No, Christie wasn’t threatened on plane, but report says everyone was searched

Don't believe everything you read.

Yes, Chris Christie was on a plane that was delayed Friday morning because of an incident that caused a passenger to be removed.

No, says a spokesperson for the governor and presidential candidate, the passenger didn't threaten Christie.

"Governor Christie, an aide and a member of his security detail were traveling on a United flight from San Francisco to Boston this morning when a passenger was removed from the plane before takeoff at the request of United Airlines," the statement from Christie Spokesperson Maria Comella reads. "At no point did Governor Christie interact with this passenger nor did this passenger pose a verbal or physical threat to the Governor. Any other inquiries about this matter should be directed to United Airlines."

But that's not the story you would have gotten out of early Tweets and news reports. FOX25 Boston, for instance, initially ran a story headlined Gov. Christie reportedly threatened on plane bound for Boston (the station has since updated its post).

On Friday afternoon, a Twitter user named David Berlind, whose profile describes him as editor in chief of ProgrammableWeb.com, tweeted that Christie had been threatened, and passengers were made to deplane:

He revised that assertion in later tweets:

Neither the statement from Christie's spokesperson nor another from United Airlines specifically address whether Christie or anyone with him made such observations, or reported the passenger.

United said in a statement it was working to "accommodate customers of flight 1108 to Boston after the flight was delayed in San Francisco due to a disruptive customer on board."

The Fox Boston report says a family member of the station was aboard. It says the plane returned to the gate, and everyone was kept on board for about 45 minutes. Passengers were taken off five at a time to be searched, and some were cotton-swabbed, the report says.