Christopher Rufo threatens 'full-scale legal war' against Randi Weingarten, AFT over doctored quote

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Disney injecting queerness into children's programming: Rufo

Journalist Chris Rufo shows what Disney has been up to regarding Florida legislation on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

Christopher Rufo is threatening to take legal action against teachers union boss Randi Weingarten for what he alleged was a deliberate misquotation of his remarks. 

Rufo, writer for the City Journal and fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has been outspoken in exposing wokeness in various institutions including public schools, was the subject of attacks from Weingarten on Saturday during an appearance on MSNBC as well as Twitter for comments he allegedly made during a speech at Hillsdale College earlier this month. 

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"Rufo himself said 'To get to universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust. To sow & grow that distrust, you have to create your own narrative frame, & have to be brutal & ruthless in pursuing it," the American Federation of Teachers president wrote. "Let’s be clear about what Rufo is saying. This isn’t about helping kids. This is about sowing distrust and chaos."

AFT president Randi Weingarten erroneously quotes Christopher Rufo. (Twitter)

On Monday, Rufo fired back.

"This is a doctored quotation. Delete it, @rweingarten," Rufo told the union leader, "or I will wage legal war against you—and, as you have made up the middle part of the quote entirely, I will win."

"Randi combines two unrelated lines and fabricates the words ‘to sow & grow that distrust’ to make it seem sinister. In the speech I say the opposite: the *teachers unions* have created distrust," Rufo added. 

The quote Weingarten tweeted did combine two separate portions of Rufo's April 5 speech and not in the order in which they were said. 

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While offering advice to Hillsdale students, Rufo said that they must engage in a "narrative and symbolic war" against institutions like Disney. 

"You have to be very aggressive, you have to fight on terms that you define, you have to create your own frame, your own language, and you have to be ruthless and brutal in pursuit of something good," Rufo told the students. 

Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. (Christopher F. Rufo)

Several minutes later, Rufo urged his audience to "attack the credibility of institutions," suggesting the damage is self-inflicted, which caused trust among Americans to be eroded. 

"I think you want to create the conditions for fundamental, structural change… for example, school choice. To get universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust. Because in order for people to take significant action, they have to feel like they have something at stake. I think that the public schools have done a remarkable job at doing that- specifically the public school teachers unions. They shut down schools for more than a year."  

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Weingarten followed up on Monday by tweeting, "Exact quote: ‘To get to universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust.’ He said people need to ‘create your own narrative and frame.’  He doesn't care about truth, he cares about attacking public ed," which Rufo insisted is an admission she "deliberately fabricated ‘to sow and grow that distrust’ with the intention of damaging my reputation." Her original tweet has not been taken down. 

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.  (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MomsRising Together)

In an interview with Fox News, Rufo insisted he's "happy" to take criticism from Weingarten and the teachers unions but that her tweet "stepped way over the line." 

"And so Randi Weingarten, as the president of the largest teachers union with a $300 million budget and tremendous power over America's children, should be held to a minimum standard of not lying, fabricating, dissembling and defaming. And if she can't meet that standard, if she doesn't rectify her error, I'm gonna hold her accountable," Rufo told Fox News. 

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"I'm meeting with my team of legal advisors. And we're gonna give Randi a little bit of time to correct her mistake. But if she doesn't, we're going to wage a full-scale legal war against her and against the American Federation of Teachers," Rufo said. 

Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. (Fox News)

Rufo is calling on Weingarten to delete the tweet and to "issue an official retraction" from both her personal Twitter account as well as the AFT's. 

"Randi Weingarten is perhaps the greatest oppressor of American children in our nation today. And if I can help hold her accountable, to restrain her bad actions, and then to show the American people that this tyrant of the public education system can be defeated, I'm gonna go all in and I'm gonna do it," Rufo said. 

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The City Journal contributing editor told Fox News his interactions with Weingarten have never gone beyond Twitter but said he "would love" to have a debate with the teachers union boss "anytime, anywhere, under any conditions," adding she can choose the moderator and the venue. 

"She is totally and grossly unqualified for any kind of leadership role, and I would relish the opportunity to prove that to the American people," Rufo said. 

Weingarten's office did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.