Stop the presses!

FRIDAYS are typically known in the world of journalism as news dump days. These are afternoons (and sometimes evenings) in which government officials drop a big news bomb and then skedaddle before anyone can ask them for a comment.

Last Friday, a brand new scandal emerged from the White House. And it involved some of the most painful objects in the world: Legos. Seriously, they hurt. We’d rather walk over a bed of hot coals.

A Peabody-winning journalist for WNYC (the NPR station for New York) started to break this scandal wide open following a tweet from the president’s daughter. From there, the mystery only grew into more of an enigma. The journalist’s name is Andrea Bernstein, and she covers the business of the Trump administration.

Last week, she kicked off her investigation by tweeting the following:

“Ivanka Trump has tweeted a photo of her son, Joseph, with his grandfather at the Resolute Desk with the Lego White House. I’ve asked the White House if 3-year-old Joseph indeed built it of his own initiative, and if he had assistance.”

Do you have goosebumps yet? Because we did. Can you imagine the scandal if a 3-year-old toddler was pictured next to a Lego set they may not have built free of assistance?

Andrea Bernstein wasn’t done yet, though, tweeting:

“OMG, Ivanka is telling a story about her son Joseph building a Lego model of the White House. She told the same story about herself once, building a Lego Trump Tower. The story was made up.”

No doubt you can remember the day the Watergate scandal broke in the papers. This must be right up there.

People on Twitter were quick to denounce Andrea Bernstein’s important journalistic investigation. It didn’t take long for #LegoGate to begin trending.

No word yet if the president’s grandson had help building that Lego set. But doubtless reporters are working around the clock to get answers. And when they do, they’ll blow the lid off this wrongdoing.

Silly season indeed.