Washington Post investigates Taylor Lorenz over post in which she called Joe Biden a 'war criminal'

Washington Post editors have undertaken a review of tech journalist Taylor Lorenz's private Instagram stories which appear to call President Joe Biden a "war criminal" in a photo. The photo, shared privately with friends, was a selfie taken by Lorenz at a digital influencers event at the White House on Wednesday. Lorenz appears in the foreground of the photos, with Biden over her shoulder in the background, the caption displayed on the side.

The New York Post's Jon Levine shared a screenshot of the photo, prompting Lorenz to claim it was edited. "You people will fall for any dumbass edit someone makes," she said. The tweet from Levine was Community Noted, with X users claiming she'd denied it, and others saying that it had been verified to NPR. Lorenz told her editors that it was faked as well.

The Washington Post spoke to NPR about the allegations against Lorenz, namely that she thinks Biden is a war criminal. "Our executive editor and senior editors take alleged violations of our standards seriously," they said, "we're aware of the alleged post and are looking into it." Lorenz reportedly removed the post from her Instagram, and then posted the same selfie without the caption.

"Lorenz has since told associates that a close friend took her posted picture and superimposed the caption upon it, as a joke, and that she shared it with the group on the private Instagram posting," NPR reported.

"So she lied," said Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan.

Lorenz wouldn't be the only one who believes Biden to be a war criminal over his aid to Israel during that nation's war against Palestinian terrorists. The Biden-Harris administration has also been supplying aid to Palestinian-held Gaza, which is run by terrorist group Hamas. Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, which led to the war that has been raging since then. 

The Washington Post standards for "Taste" read: "The Washington Post respects taste and decency, understanding that society’s concepts of taste and decency are constantly changing. A word offensive to the last generation can be part of the next generation’s common vocabulary. But we shall avoid prurience. We shall avoid profanities and obscenities unless their use is so essential to a story of significance that its meaning is lost without them. In no case shall obscenities be used without the approval of the executive or managing editors.

"If editors decide that content containing potentially offensive material has a legitimate news value, editors should use visual and/or text warnings about such material. For example, we may link to a Web page that contains material that does not meet standards for Post original content, but we let users know what they might see before they click the link by including a warning, such as 'Warning: Some images on this site contain graphic images of war.'"