Several Twitter critics accused the freshman senator of waiting "ten days" to comment despite the fact that he had first tweeted about the derailment on Feb. 4, the day after it happened.
But that didn't stop outlets like Newsweek and The Independent from adding fuel to the fire.
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, was targeted by news outlets over his so-called "delayed" response to the Ohio train derailment. (AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar, File)
Newsweek's report Monday night, which originally ran the headline "J.D. Vance Slammed for Delayed Statement on Ohio Trail Derailment," quoted some of Vance's Twitter critics, one saying, "Where the hell have you been?!" and another one writing, "The accident happened [10] days ago, and this is your first public comment."
The report waited until its ninth paragraph to mention the Feb. 4 tweet.
This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at mid-day Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Notably, Newsweek admitted in its report that Ohio's senior Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown didn't tweet about the derailment until Feb. 6 and "has not released an official statement from his office." Those admissions weren't made in the article until the tenth and eleventh paragraphs.
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The headline was later changed to "Timing of J.D. Vance's Official Statement on Derailment Stirs Critics" and its first paragraph clarified that Vance was facing pushback for releasing "an official statement" 10 days after the derailment after initially saying he hadn't released "a statement." No editor's note explaining the changes was added to the report.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, waited days before tweeting about the Ohio train derailment but news outlets kept their ire on his GOP colleague J.D. Vance. (Phil Long/Pool via Reuters)
On Tuesday, The Independent followed in Newsweek's footsteps, running the headline "JD Vance slammed for delayed reaction to Ohio train derailment: ‘Gibberish'" citing similar online critics.
But the British outlet waited until its eleventh paragraph to mention Vance's Feb. 4 tweet and its twelfth to acknowledge Brown's Feb. 6 response was even later.
Neither Newsweek nor The Independent immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment.