As Twitchy reported on Thursday, ABC News pulled a story that claimed companies tied to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had landed more than $6 billion in Pentagon contracts. It wasn't given a correction or an editorial note, or any reason why it was pulled. It just vanished, leading all the people ginned up by Democrats who'd posted links to it to an error page.
This is absolutely wild per Status — ABC News completely retracted this story like two days ago just totally nuked it. No note, no explanation , no comment. It had been shared by tons of top lawmakers and democratic officials. https://t.co/FJUKmR9YyA
— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) October 9, 2026
On Friday, CNN chief media correspondent said that he was told the article was "published prematurely."
I'm told the article was "published prematurely." More to come, because that is obviously not a sufficient explanation.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 9, 2026
Palmer Luckey is founder of Anduriltech, which was apparently named in the piece.
@brianstelter They are full of shit, and they know it. We gave them the actual facts multiple times, their editors reviewed it, made minor edits that didn't actually correct the lies, then said they stood by the reporting and refused to correct it any further. The whole thing is an op.
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) October 9, 2026
@ABC News continues to lie, this time privately to their friends in the press. This was a coordinated influence operation planted by our competition, not "premature publication". 7:01 AM October 7th, story goes live. Within minutes, dozens of high-profile commentators, politicians, and news outlets are sharing it with tens of millions of followers. We immediately contact ABC and demand they correct their false claims - after multiple rounds of refusal, they finally make a single one-word grammar edit. The editors stand by the reporting and insist the false claims are true. Finally, eight hours after I was forced to call them out publicly, they delete everything. The editors hide all the comments, the author deletes his X account, and the story is completely wiped from their website without any explanation, directly violating SPJ ethics standards and ABC's own internal rules. ABC is currently running a coverup operation, ignoring all of our requests for correction/retraction while telling their buddies to spread the word that this was nothing more than a CMS publication timeline error.
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) October 9, 2026
The post continues:
… politicians, and news outlets are sharing it with tens of millions of followers. We immediately contact ABC and demand they correct their false claims - after multiple rounds of refusal, they finally make a single one-word grammar edit. The editors stand by the reporting and insist the false claims are true. Finally, eight hours after I was forced to call them out publicly, they delete everything. The editors hide all the comments, the author deletes his X account, and the story is completely wiped from their website without any explanation, directly violating SPJ ethics standards and ABC's own internal rules. ABC is currently running a coverup operation, ignoring all of our requests for correction/retraction while telling their buddies to spread the word that this was nothing more than a CMS publication timeline error.
Cover up indeed. They keep trying damage control, as shown by the ABC producer who contacted us at Powerus and STILL don’t even want to get the story accurate. This isn’t journalism anymore @PalmerLuckey , many reporters like @abcnews have completely lost their way over their obsessions with one man. They would rather try and take down good companies and people who want to protect Americans in the process. I could name a number of other media companies who have tried all the same, with a total disregard for the truth. It’s criminal.
— Brett Velicovich (@TheDroneWarrior) October 9, 2026
The post continues:
… obsessions with one man. They would rather try and take down good companies and people who want to protect Americans in the process. I could name a number of other media companies who have tried all the same, with a total disregard for the truth. It’s criminal.
Stelter is correct for once in that the "premature publication" excuse "is obviously not a sufficient explanation." Seeing as this is Stelter's beat, maybe he could do some digging and find out exactly what happened to induce ABC News to delete the story.
@PalmerLuckey @ABC Eight hours from going live to the author deleting the X account is a pretty fast way to admit the story was wrong.
— Elliott Michael Smith (@TheElliottSmith) October 9, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC Sue @ABC and everyone involved at ABC. Consider it your next investment round.
— TimOnPoint (@TimOnPoint) October 9, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC Every time I see a MSM "incident" like this, I ask myself, what would I know about this story if @elonmusk hadn't purchased X? The answer is, I would know NOTHING! Never deleting this app.😡
— Dahliajean (@dahliajeanx) October 9, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC This is where you launch a lawsuit and get them in discovery.
— Chief Trumpster (@ChiefTrumpster) October 10, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ianmSC @ABC Everything is astroturfed. Industry and politicians, coordinating with friendly media to push an agenda.
— Marcus Tullis Bobero (@BankofBOB) October 9, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @RichardGrenell @ABC Not worth your time, but it would be pretty cool if you sued them out of existence.
— Seek Truth | Speak Truth (@jonkc530) October 9, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC I’m no expert, but seems ripe for a lawsuit. This type of campaign should not be tolerated.
— DG (@DerekGaertner) October 10, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC Sue them for libel and publicize everything you can of findings in discovery. Put em out of business, baby!
— Enginerd32 (@timmerenginerd) October 10, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC Please sue them with our full support. Maybe you need to buy them to save free speech like what Elon did. Thanks.
— Grant Guy Tesla fanboy (@GrantGuyUSA) October 10, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC Please sue. It's the only way this will change. Make them stop the intro of the nightly news with an apology. Not at the end. The very beginning of the show.
— Christopher Price (@chrisprice) October 10, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC We don’t just call them “fake news” because it’s funny.. We call them fake news because they are, in fact, fake news
— Smores5555 (@PrivacySetting1) October 9, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC I’m sure you have some very aggressive legal counsel who can be encouraged to do nothing other than make all of their lives difficult until the end of times
— Patrick Wood (@pgwood1) October 10, 2026
@PalmerLuckey @ABC 'Published prematurely' is what you say about a typo. Planted stories have a client, a budget, and a target. Three things worth knowing.
— Rob Kennedy (@TheRobKennedy) October 9, 2026
Come on, Stelter … don't let ABC News feed you some line about how the story was "published prematurely." Get to the bottom of it.
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