ABC News has been forced to issue a retraction in a story that caused massive waves in both the media and stock market yesterday, once again proving that the mainstream media has earned their moniker of “fake news”.
Yesterday, Brian Ross reported that Michael Flynn has promised full cooperation with Mueller and will testify that Donald Trump as a candidate directed him to make contact with the Russians, which we now know was false. However, this resulted in media personalities going ballistic with joy that their dreams of proving Trump colluded with the Russians were finally coming true. The problem is, this report turned out to be completely false.
ABC has since deleted the tweet containing “false statements”, but the original can be viewed below:
Even though ABC later tweeted a clarification, the damage due to Ross’s fake reporting was already done, as the tweet was re-tweeted over 26,000 times.
Ross’s explosive tweet and report also resulted in sending shock waves throughout the stock market, resulting in the DOW dropping by 350 points within 30 minutes, which someone could have made a pretty penny on if they shorted the market at the right time.
Of course, Brian Ross’s report turned out to be completely false and ABC was later forced to issue a “clarification”
Here’s the full “clarification” @BrianRoss read on-air on “World News” tonight pic.twitter.com/bY2dE7QUmr
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 2, 2017
What a shocker, as it appears Flynn is not in fact testifying against Donald Trump and nothing about Brian Ross’s report was factual. Of course, the timing of the Flynn report just happen to coincide with the day that senate Republicans passed Trump’s signature tax bill, effectively wiping that legislative victory off the front page. A tax plan that offer major tax cuts to corporations and the middle class, which should have resulted in massive stock market gains.
Not only does this “fake news” represent a massive embarrassment for ABC, as well as being responsible for a flash crash in the stock market, but Brian Ross has found himself suspended for a month without pay over the “botched exclusive”.
ABC News announced Saturday that Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross would be suspended for four weeks without pay over a botched “exclusive” about former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
During a live “special report” Friday morning, Ross reported that Flynn would testify that Donald Trump had ordered him to make contact with Russians about foreign policy while he was still a candidate. The report raised the specter of Trump’s impeachment and sent the stock market plummeting.
Later in the day, ABC issued a “clarification” to Ross’s report, saying that Trump’s alleged directive came after he’d been elected president. Ross himself appeared on “World News Tonight,” several hours after the initial report, to clarify his error.
In a statement, ABC News said Ross’ report “had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process.”
“It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience,” ABC’s statement added. “These are our core principles. We fell far short of that yesterday.”
Yes, ABC News, you certainly fell short of your “core principles” yesterday and, along with your mainstream media allies, have been consistently doing ever since Donald Trump ran for president.
ABC News and other outlets appear to be eagerly reporting their hopes and dreams of exposing Donald Trump of collusion, rather than reporting factual events. Their frantic desire to find the “silver bullet” that will finally make their dreams come true and prove their thus unfounded conspiracy theory that the only reason Trump won is because of the Russians, not the voters.
Today, the Republican national Committee called on ABC News to “fully retract and apologize for the false Flynn report”.
It’s ridiculous that it took over 6 hours for ABC News to issue a “clarification” for a report that was completely false. ABC News should retract and apologize. pic.twitter.com/nNToRTdi71
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) December 2, 2017
ABC News and Brian Ross fell prey to their anti-Trump fervor and liberal ideals, which typically override any sense of logic, reason and facts.
Although anti-Trump media outlets are foaming at the mouth at Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the FBI, what has thus far been admitted is nothing more than Flynn performing his duties during the transition period AFTER Trump won the election. Flynn did not plead guilty to a collusion scheme or criminal conspiracy, but rather the process crime of lying to law enforcement. Furthermore, this contact between Flynn and the Russian ambassador took place well after Trump won the election, doing nothing to further accusations of Russian interference being the cause of Trump’s victory.
There has yet to be a single shred of evidence indicating collusion, Russian conspiracies to help Trump win the election or anything that would have had any impact on the election results.
However, just as when Paul Manafort’s indictment made headlines, the leftist who wake up every day thinking “today is the day” that Trump will be impeached can enjoy their rush of emotions and fantasies…at least until their next liberal media idol is accused of sexual harassment and forced out of the business.