NBC News fact-checked with their own reporting after calling trans would-be Kavanaugh assassin a ‘woman’

The would-be assassin—identified as "Sophie Roske" on court documents but legally charged as Nicholas Roske—was sentenced to over eight years in prison last week. The judge in the case was asked by prosecutors to give him 30 years in prison, but the Biden-appointed Judge Deborah Boardman gave him a little over eight years. Earlier in September, it was revealed in a court filing that Roske was going by the name "Sophie."

NBC News' coverage, the outlet posted to X announcing the sentencing with the caption, "A woman who pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh three years ago was sentenced to more than eight years in prison." The headline on the news website read similarly, stating, "Woman sentenced to 8 years for attempting to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh." The post from NBC News led to heavy backlash, with many calling on the outlet to say that Roske is a male.

The reporters at the outlet only mentioned that Roske identified as transgender four paragraphs into the piece. Although, as pointed out by the Community Note that was published under the post, the outlet referred to Roske as a man just a few months prior.

In April 2025, NBC News published the story with the headline: "Man who had gun and knife will plead guilty to trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh." The story was included in the note, comparing the outlet's older coverage of the case to their references to Roske more recently.

In June 2022, the outlet published a report with the headline, "Man with a gun outside Kavanaugh's home told 911, 'I need psychiatric help.'"