A Florida political commentator admitted he lied when he accused two sitting congressmen of sex trafficking, then publicly apologized and cited his Catholic faith for the confession.
Quick Take
- James Fishback retracted his claim that Representatives Byron Donalds and Cory Mills were under federal investigation for sex trafficking.
- Fishback said he accepted the Department of Justice’s public statement that neither man was under investigation.
- The Department of Justice had called the original claim “absolutely false” back in August.
- Fishback said no one pressured him to apologize and that the two congressmen never contacted him.
- The episode shows how political accusations can cause lasting damage even after they are proven false.
Commentator Admits He Made a “Terrible Mistake”
James Fishback wrote a public statement on October 28 taking back his claim that Donalds and Mills faced a federal sex trafficking investigation. “In early August, I made a terrible mistake by claiming that Byron Donalds and Cory Mills were under federal investigation,” Fishback wrote. He said he accepted the Department of Justice’s public denial, adding that this meant he had “borne false witness.”
Fishback apologized directly to both men and their families. He said neither congressman nor their lawyers asked him to write the apology, and that neither had ever contacted him about the matter. The retraction named both men together, rather than walking back the claim against just one of them.
What the Original Claim Said
Fishback’s original accusation was specific. He claimed Donalds and Mills had visited MGM National Harbor in Maryland on two separate occasions in 2024, where they allegedly paid women for sexual acts. He said his campaign had confirmed the information through a government whistleblower, though he never named that source publicly.
The Department of Justice rejected the claim almost immediately. A spokesperson said Donalds was not under investigation, and a law enforcement official called the allegation “absolutely false.” Separate reporting indicated any investigation involving Mills was tied to finances, not sexual misconduct, a distinction that got lost in the initial headlines.
Campaigns Push Back Hard
Donalds’s campaign did not hold back after the accusation surfaced. A spokesperson called it a “baseless and defamatory sideshow,” rejecting the claim outright as the Republican primary approached.
A strategist for Mills went further after Fishback’s apology, calling for Fishback to leave politics altogether over the false claims. The reaction reflects how seriously campaigns treated an accusation that touched on federal crimes just weeks before voters went to the polls.
Timing Raises Questions About Motive
Fishback made the allegation in early August, less than two weeks before the August 18 Republican primary in which he and Donalds were competing. The apology came more than two months later, after the primary had already concluded. That gap between accusation and retraction is likely to fuel debate about why the claim surfaced when it did, even though Fishback has not disputed the facts of his own reversal.
Why Retractions Don’t Always Undo the Damage
Research on political accusations suggests a retraction rarely erases the harm done to a candidate’s reputation. A study published in the journal PNAS Nexus found that false accusations against political candidates continued to shape public impressions even after people learned the claims were untrue, a pattern researchers call a “continued influence effect.”
Other research on media corrections found a similar pattern, sometimes called the corrections dilemma. News outlets that admit mistakes tend to improve the accuracy of what readers believe, but the admission itself can also lower trust in the source overall.
He accused two sitting congressmen of sex trafficking.
Now he wants forgiveness.
1. In early August, James Fishback claimed U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills were under federal sex trafficking investigations.
2. He said the information came from a "trusted source."
3.…
— Anticommie (@QueenAnticommie) October 29, 2026
Fishback’s case fits that broader pattern. A specific, serious accusation spread for months before a formal denial and apology arrived. Even with the retraction now public, the original claim had already shaped headlines, campaign messaging, and voter perceptions during a competitive primary race.
Sources:
lifesitenews.com, newsweek.com, washingtontimes.com, washingtonexaminer.com, miamitimesonline.com, dl.acm.org
