The financial markets took a short-term hit yesterday morning.
This was the reason:
.@BrianRoss reports Michael Flynn “is prepared to testify that President Trump as a candidate — Donald Trump — ordered him, directed him, to make contacts with the Russians, which contradicts all that Donald Trump has said at this point.”
— David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) December 1, 2017
Re-read the words carefully. They appear to be devastating.
The announcement immediately led to this:
Dow now diving nearly 280 points on the Flynn news. https://t.co/NnFhkg8V8a pic.twitter.com/Kv9zt6pI3C
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) December 1, 2017
Other reporters quickly weighed in on the news:
per my NBC colleagues, one source close to Trump offers dose of reality: “very very very bad”
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 1, 2017
With the Special Counsel and FBI verifying so many news reports from the last year, seems pretty clear why the WH and its vassals have deployed the term “fake news” to attack accurate stories.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 1, 2017
The news quickly spread:
It turns out there was just one problem:
ABC News spokesperson tells me that “World News” will clarify that this should be president-elect Trump, not candidate Trump. https://t.co/Xm0BuvAstj
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 1, 2017
Note the time of the “Clarification”.
Below is the initial “clarification” as read by ABC’s Brian Ross – 7 1/2 hours later:
Here’s the full “clarification” @BrianRoss read on-air on “World News” tonight pic.twitter.com/bY2dE7QUmr
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 2, 2017
Re-read the “Clarification” and note the dramatic differences between the original report and the “Clarification”:
Here is the “Correction” finally issued by ABC – at almost 8:00 at night:
CORRECTION of ABC News Special Report: Flynn prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians *during the transition* — initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria, confidant now says. https://t.co/ewrkVZTu2K pic.twitter.com/URLiHf3uSm
— ABC News (@ABC) December 2, 2017
The “Correction” provided a stark contrast to the hours-earlier reporting by ABC:
ORIGINAL REPORTING: Proof of Russian collusion, treason & intent to rig an election.
CORRECTION: Commonplace, completely legal diplomatic relationship establishment by an incoming administration. https://t.co/hpeRAqOrMm
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) December 2, 2017
Others had more succinct responses:
You dumbasses. https://t.co/BJwnXHTPo8
— Ruthless T. Firefly (@BecketAdams) December 2, 2017
The effect was noted:
Seven-plus hours and 26,000+ re-tweets later, ABC finally pulls down the incorrect tweet and issues a major, story-altering *correction.* Got to move faster than that, fellas. pic.twitter.com/SoH0njlUmR
— Ruthless T. Firefly (@BecketAdams) December 2, 2017
The damage done:
Maybe if ABC responded sooner, they could’ve headed off the birth of a bogus narrative. Maybe. But they didn’t, and now this bullshit is in the mainstream. It’s not going away, and the record is never going to be fully corrected on this one. pic.twitter.com/iHj1auNedp
— Ruthless T. Firefly (@BecketAdams) December 2, 2017
And mainstream media wonders why they’re no longer trusted…
newer post An Empty Flynn Investigation & Obama-Clinton Complicity
older post President Trump’s Unmasking of the Establishment