I don't think he "is", present tense, and implying continuity, "pushing misinformation". I think he's an entertainer with basically my politics and a pretty good writing staff, and I think he made a mistake common at that moment to people with my politics. I don't find it disqualifying. But it was not, in and of itself, good.

If any mistake was made, it was that he let a rhetorical statement sound more like a 'fact' about republicans (see my earlier comment).

Edit: and republicans definitely know the difference, but they played up a sad situation to their benefit to hurt an opponent.