The mother of that child, conservative activist Gina Loudon, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she told Gross during the rally that the child in the stroller was her son, not Palin’s. She said she tried to make it clear because the two children look a lot alike.

“I told him that. And he ignored it,” Loudon said. “It’s not even like he didn’t fact check – he just ignored facts.”

Gross said in a written statement sent to The Associated Press that he was mistaken.

“Trig was with his mother the next day in Wichita (Kan.), but the child in Independence was someone else, and I regret the error,” he said.