The Washington Post issued corrections to a story published Friday about Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL) after it incorrectly claimed that she was previously registered as a Democrat and suggested that she was fabricating a home invasion she experienced during her time in the U.S. Air Force.
The Post’s story, “The making of Anna Paulina Luna,” detailed her upbringing and what led her to enter politics. The story claimed that three years before Luna first ran for Congress, she was a registered Democrat. In addition, the story suggested that details regarding Luna’s personal life were fabricated and surprised her relatives. And the piece suggested that she did not lean into her Hispanic heritage until she began preparing to run for Congress.
In the article, Luna’s mother, Monica Luna, affirmed her daughter’s claims. And, in a tweet, Anna Paulina Luna shared that the Post interviewed members of her extended family who she does not speak to. In addition, she shared that the Post did not include an interview conducted with one of her former roommates in its report.
“This is comical,” she wrote.
Holy shit the Washington post just tried to claim my dad was never incarcerated, left out comments from my mom, said I was a registered Democrat, and did not report a convo they had with a former roommate, and interviewed “family” I don’t talk to. This is comical.
— Anna Paulina Luna (@VoteAPL) February 10, 2023
On Luna’s congressional Twitter account, she shared a tweet from Jacqueline Alemany, who authored the piece, stating that the claim that Luna was a registered Democrat was incorrect.
“We incorrectly stated that Anna Paulina Luna was reg’d as a Demo in Washington state in 2017 based on an erroneous voter reg database,” Alemany wrote. “So sorry for the error!”
Strange. https://t.co/9y4ibzUdrh
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) February 10, 2023
In the article, The Post reported that Luna said at a speaking engagement that she experienced a home invasion at 4 a.m. while stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Warrensburg, Missouri. Luna credited her friend Jeremy for protecting her. Luna’s former roommate told the outlet that “she was not aware of such an early-morning incident taking place” and that there was a break-in that occurred during the day when Luna wasn’t home.
The Post issued a second “clarification” to the story, noting that Luna’s former roommate was the only person interviewed regarding the incident though she was not the only person mentioned in the police report.
When you wake up and see @washingtonpost has had to issue ANOTHER correction to their story on @realannapaulina.
— Edie Heipel (@ediemheipel) February 11, 2023
I’ll wait for more! ⏰ pic.twitter.com/GlqryigPIr
And, The Post questioned Luna’s claims that her father was incarcerated throughout her upbringing. Documents provided to Fox News Digital showed that Luna’s father spent time in prison.
“My story, growing up within the welfare system, going to over six high schools, that’s not something that The Washington Post wants to tell the truth about,” Luna said in an interview with Fox News. “They also proceeded to leave out an entire interview with a roommate that I had that debunked a bizarre claim made by someone that was apparently stationed with me that claimed that I owned a firearm during this break-in.”
According to a tweet from Luna, her office sent letters from her attorney to several major outlets that ran with the story.
“We will be issuing these letters to correct to Vanity Fair and a few other major outlets who decided to run with this story before they corrected the facts,” Luna said in the Fox interview.
“It’s awful how they treat minorities. And the fact is that their undertone of their article was incredibly racist. They tried to undercut my Hispanic heritage,” Luna said. “The Washington Post is compost and they should do better.”
“The racist undertone of this article is pretty mind-blowing,” she said.
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) February 11, 2023
In October, Townhall interviewed Luna ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Luna ran to flip a House seat vacated by former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who left his position to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Former President Donald Trump endorsed her. Luna won her race and became the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress from Florida.
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