Just days after having to issue an embarrassing retraction, ABC News had to issue another correction for a report relating to the Trump-Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
ABC News reported on Monday that Mueller’s team claimed that Paul Manafort worked with a Russian intel official as recently as last week — a claim that was not accurate, as the correction noted that the person was a “Russian intelligence-connected individual.” The difference could be significant — although a stupid move by Manafort either way — because a “Russian intel official” is a government official while a “Russian intelligence-connected individual” might not be.
According to ABC News, Mueller’s team said, ““Manafort worked on the draft with a long-time Russian colleague of Manafort’s, who is currently based in Russia and assessed to have ties to a Russian intelligence service.”
This is the second embarrassing correction ABC News has had to make in just the last few days.
On Friday, ABC News’ Brian Ross falsely reported that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was prepared to testify that then-candidate Donald Trump instructed him to reach out to government officials — an announcement that sent the stock market tumbling 350-points.
However, after waiting the entire day, ABC News corrected their mistake as Ross admitted that the information regarding Flynn was not correct. In reality, Flynn is set to testify that president-elect Donald Trump instructed him to reach out to the Russian ambassador — a move that the Obama State Department said was normal and was not inappropriate.
ABC News announced on Saturday that they were suspending Ross for four weeks without pay for the incident after the network experienced a significant amount of embarrassment for its lousy reporting.