Trump Jr. is slamming NPR after a yuge correction they issued in an article meant to show that he lied about his and his father’s business dealings with Putin.
Here’s what happened:
The public radio network, which receives federal funds, used Trump Jr.’s Senate testimony transcript from 2017 to report that he said the Trump Organization’s possible real estate deal in Russia “faded away” by the end of 2014.
The eldest son of President Trump then denied the deal was being discussed in 2016.
“There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue,” he told the Senate.
This answer, according to NPR, placed Trump Jr. in serious legal jeopardy because Cohen said in a plea agreement earlier this week that he continued working on the deal through June 2016 and he even told the president and his children about it.
But critics claimed that NPR rushed the story, overlooking other answers by Trump Jr. that show he admitted the Trump Tower Moscow was being discussed in 2016.
“It’s been reported that in late 2015 or 2016 when now-President Trump was running for office the Trump Organization was pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow. Is that accurate?” Trump Jr. was asked by the Senate.
“Yes,” came his reply.
Five hours later after publishing the article on its website, NPR issued a correction — though it didn’t fully retract the article, admitting only that it “mischaracterized” Trump Jr.’s answers.
“An earlier version of this report mischaracterized an answer Donald Trump Jr. gave to Senate investigators in 2017 about the prospective projects his family was negotiating with people in Moscow,” the editor’s note read.
They were slammed on Twitter:
This NPR story appears to be wrong. It notes that Trump Jr. told a Senate committee that a deal in Moscow died of "deal fatigue" by 2014.
— Philip Bump (@pbump) November 30, 2018
But that was a deal with the Agalarovs. He was also asked if a deal was in the works in 2015/2016 and said yes.https://t.co/B8SuolTfyK pic.twitter.com/w34SamzXJF
Especially from Junior himself:
https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1068635806594752514Serious question for non-biased “fact checkers” — What % of corrected or withdrawn stories originally erred in Trump’s favor? I honestly don’t recall a single one. The media’s “Oops, honest mistake” defense breaks down when you consider this point. @GlennKesslerWP? @APFactCheck?
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 30, 2018
This is exactly how news orgs destroy their own credibility. It really seems like they rush this stuff out but reluctantly post damaging info on Democrats. Even conservative Trump critics have to admit that. BUT the opposite is true too – Trump supporters will take this as evidence to absolutely ignore ALL damaging reporting on the Trumps. We are in a seriously broken place in politics in America right now. Also, #MAGA!!!