In a special “live report” on Friday morning, ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross reported that former national security adviser General Flynn would testify that then-presidential-candidate Trump had ordered him to contact Russian officials regarding foreign policy.
That report was wrong, but it heightened speculation around Trump’s impeachment and caused panic in the stock market, forcing it downward.
Later that same day ABC News clarified Ross’s report, saying that the directive that allegedly came from Trump was given to Flynn after he was elected to office. Subsequently, Ross himself came on World News Tonight to clarify the wrong report.
As a result of the error, ABC News has suspended Ross for 4 weeks without pay, and has issued a statement apologizing for the misreporting.
After news broke that the report was inaccurate, the source clarified that, while still a candidate, Trump had asked Flynn and other senior advisers to find ways to repair damaged relations with Russia and other countries. It was only after taking office that he ordered Flynn to contact Russian officials on foreign policy matters, including working jointly against terror group ISIS, said the source.
This is not Brian Ross’s first major snafu in his decades-long career as a reporter. Fox News has the full story.
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