MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell retracts a story he reported based on a single, unnamed source about supposed Russian ties to President Donald Trump's finances and apologized to viewers for reporting it.
FILE - This April 11, 2019 file photo shows MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell at The Hollywood Reporter's annual Most Powerful People in Media cocktail reception in New York. O'Donnell says he made an "error in judgment" in reporting a story about President Donald Trump's finances based on a single source. O'Donnell's tweet on Wednesday came after a lawyer for Trump said the story was false and defamatory, and called for NBC News to apologize and retract it.
NEW YORK — MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday retracted his story about supposed Russian ties to President Donald Trump’s finances and apologized for reporting it — just as Trump’s lawyer demanded.His public pull-back unfolded quickly in the opening minute of “The Last Word,” where 24 hours earlier the cable news host said that a source had told him that Deutsche Bank documents showed that Russian oligarchs had co-signed a loan application for Trump.
Trump’s lawyer, Charles Harder, had written to NBC Wednesday afternoon, saying the story was false and defamatory and threatening legal action if it wasn’t disowned. Harder said the story could have been disproven with an internet search.“We don’t know whether the information is inaccurate,” he said later on the air. “But the fact is we do know it wasn’t ready for broadcast and for that I apologize.
The episode exhibited a stunning lack of rigor for a news organization. In a letter to Susan Weiner, NBC Universal’s general counsel, and Daniel Kummer, the company’s senior vice president for litigation, Harder called O’Donnell’s statements “false and defamatory, and extremely damaging.”While it provided ammunition for Trump’s frequent attacks on the media, the story had not been addressed on the president’s Twitter account Wednesday evening.
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