CNN reported exclusively that Donald Trump Jr. tweeted about Hillary Clinton and Wikileaks on the same day he supposedly was sent info by Wikileaks, which CNN said was September 4th. CNN had “bombshell” on the brain:
Exclusive: Donald Trump, Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization got an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and link for hacked WikiLeaks documents https://t.co/hEJLhtiYKm pic.twitter.com/DCCMNhtzge
— CNN (@CNN) December 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/DavidWright_CNN/status/939118155875733504
And the media (and The Resistance) were off and running:
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/939174259783585793
https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/939146783179059201
https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/939140852412305408
Just one problem. CNN didn’t have the dates correct, meaning Trump Jr’s tweet was many days before the Wikileaks email:
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/939194326369882115
“Far less significant” to say the least.
https://twitter.com/sarahcwestwood/status/939195519188000768
Holy crap. That’s a huge error. Like Brian Ross level huge. https://t.co/Qio646xjm0
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) December 8, 2017
Almost a thousand shares. It’s false. https://t.co/fZJthKm71b
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) December 8, 2017
But, like clockwork, the media had already spread it all over the place:
Why everyone hates the media, #498,841 pic.twitter.com/mQwNzsjhR6
— Dan Goldwasser (@dgoldwas) December 8, 2017
They still haven't corrected the story and it's their top headline. pic.twitter.com/HbQSx3cSWa
— Caniac (@DaCaniac) December 8, 2017
Still leading CNN right now pic.twitter.com/iCECI6gZZs
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) December 8, 2017
Wow.
https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/939200945522536449
OH WOW THE SCANDAL INVOLVES NOT JUST COLLUSION BUT TIME TRAVEL! https://t.co/qfjYSVpnSL
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) December 8, 2017
Turns out that 'bombshell' email that @DonaldJTrumpJr received from @Wikileaks with tons of DNC oppo on it:
1. Was sent by a rando
2. Was never responded to
3. Contained already public informationhttps://t.co/AZuVHxmGxa— Benny (@bennyjohnson) December 8, 2017
Media keeps really hurting itself https://t.co/MmXbLIsiFr
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/GreatDoofus/status/939198326905323520
https://twitter.com/davidharsanyi/status/939197630151839745
This affects the entire news industry, folks. It's so damaging https://t.co/kNbrmKO5eV
— Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) December 8, 2017
I know this wasn't your error, but I'm not passing up this gif opportunity pic.twitter.com/FF343JDxvX
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) December 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/NolteNC/status/939203634855927808
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
— MyInnerThoughts (@MyInnerThought3) December 8, 2017
Dear media, stop making it easy for Trump to cry Fake News. https://t.co/0A7HqUtB12
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) December 8, 2017
And this was hardly a time bomb in the first place. Media outlets keep shooting themselves in the foot. https://t.co/mczmLu4j83
— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) December 8, 2017
Oops pic.twitter.com/T0vmW4NfE6
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) December 8, 2017
It's at the point where #FakeNews should have been Person of the Year.
— Bruv (@Bourgy) December 8, 2017
Excellent suggestion!
What was that again about apples and bananas, CNN?
"This is an apple. Some people will try to tell you it's a banana. Banana, banana, banana." https://t.co/He4Y4ZrVOo
— ?It's?Almost ⛄️Christmas? (@jtLOL) December 8, 2017
https://t.co/s4PtMkUS4M @brianstelter
— DC Dude (@DCDude1776) December 8, 2017
Update: CNN finally acknowledged the error and admitted that their apple was in fact a banana all along:
CNN's initial reporting of the date on an email sent to members of the Trump campaign about Wikileaks documents, which was confirmed by two sources to CNN, was incorrect. We have updated our story to include the correct date, and present the proper context for the timing of email
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) December 8, 2017
CORRECTION: Email sent to Trump and Trump Jr. offering WikiLeaks documents was sent on Sept. 14, not Sept. 4 as we originally reported https://t.co/JbyWGEx4iw
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) December 8, 2017
Editor’s note: This post has been updated to include additional tweets.
***
Related:
Apple or banana? Look how many retweets CNN WH journo’s #FakeNews got vs. the correction
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