Ryan Fournier co-founded the youth political organization Students For Trump in 2015 with the mission to elect Donald Trump as President of the United States. Partnering with John Lambert, Fournier launched the group with a Twitter account while they were students at the private Christian school Campbell University in North Carolina.
[Note: In 2019, Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk leased Students for Trump and their media assets. Now that Trump is seeking a second term after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Students for Trump are reportedly reclaiming their assets from the Turning Point network.]
Yesterday I put up a tweet alleging that Mark Meadows wore a wire in the White House during the last stretch.
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) October 27, 2023
I’ve spoke with some of my sources again, and now it seems that information was wrong and incorrect. In fact, two of them retracted their statements on the matter…
On Friday, Fournier apologized to Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who — along with Trump, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and 16 others — have been charged by District Attorney Fani Willis in Fulton County, Georgia for allegedly trying to overturn the election results in that state.
Fournier wrote: “Yesterday I put up a tweet alleging that Mark Meadows wore a wire in the White House during the last stretch.
“I’ve spoke with some of my sources again, and now it seems that information was wrong and incorrect. In fact, two of them retracted their statements on the matter entirely.
“I apologize for putting something out without it not being 100% accurate. That’s on me and I’ll do better next time. I also apologize to Congressman Meadows, and his staff for having to field questions on the issue.
“There seems to be some dark forces behind the scenes trying to get Meadows, and to me that is very problematic, especially when it seems like it’s being sent through the grapevines by some of our own.”
[NOTE: The “Congressman” honorific Fournier uses for Meadows refers to his time representing North Carolina in the House prior to his stint as Trump’s Chief of Staff.]
It’s not the first time Fournier has allegedly released “wrong and incorrect” information. In June 2020, Fournier claimed that donations to Black Lives Matter were being funneled to Democratic candidates. The Associated Press and The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact reported that the claim was false.
In January 2021, Fournier claimed that the ‘Biden administration lost 20 million COVID vaccines.” PolitiFact found the claim to be false, as the vaccines went missing during the Trump administration.
