On November 19, the Drudge Report linked to a Washington Examiner article about possible inauguration costs for Washington, D.C., under the headline, “Obama Inaugural Could Bankrupt DC.” However, the article to which Drudge linked did not report that the inauguration “could bankrupt” the city. The November 18 Examiner article reported: “Soaring costs expected to accompany huge crowds in town for the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama could stick cash-strapped Washington, D.C., with a record-breaking bill for services.” The article also reported that Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said security and capacity measures recommended by her and others for the inauguration “will almost certainly surpass the $15 million the federal government gives to the District each year to defray the cost of events.” The Examiner did not report any estimates of how much the inauguration might cost the city in total.

The article also reported that President Bush's 2005 inauguration “cost the city more than $17 million, some of which was reimbursed with federal funds.”

Drudge's headline as of 7:50 a.m. ET read:

By 8:55 a.m. ET on November 19, Drudge changed the headline to say, “Obama Inaugural Could Break the Bank in DC...” which echoes the Examiner article headline: “Soaring costs for inauguration could break the bank for D.C.”

After Drudge posted his “Obama Inaugural Could Bankrupt DC” headline, other websites similarly cited the Examiner headline to assert that the inauguration would “bankrupt” the city.