Politics

Trump advocates lawsuit against ABC for stock market crash caused by fake reporting

On Sunday, President Trump suggested those who lost money after the stock market fell 350 points on false reporting by Brian Ross sue ABC News, Breitbart.com reported.

“People who lost money when the Stock Market went down 350 points based on the False and Dishonest reporting of Brian Ross of News (he has been suspended), should consider hiring a lawyer and suing ABC for the damages this bad reporting has caused – many millions of dollars!” Trump tweeted.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/937309279257792512

According to Breitbart:

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Ross was suspended by ABC News for four weeks without pay, after he tried to clarify a report about the investigation.

Ross reported on Friday that Flynn would testify that as a candidate Trump ordered him to contact the Russians, which would be illegal.

The stock market fell more than 350 points on the news.

But hours later, Ross “clarified” his story, saying that Flynn would testify that Trump asked him to contact the Russians after winning the election, which is not against the law.

Trump “congratulated” ABC for correcting the fake news and suspending Ross.

“Congratulations to ABC News for suspending Brian Ross for his horrendously inaccurate and dishonest report on the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt,” Trump said on Twitter. “More Networks and ‘papers’ should do the same with their Fake News!”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/937145025359761408

Initially, Ross reported:

“He has promised full cooperation to the Mueller team. He’s prepared to testify, we are told by a confidante, against President Trump, against members of the Trump family, and others in the White House. He is prepared to testify that President Trump, as a candidate…ordered him and directed him to make contact with the Russians, which contradicts all that Donald Trump has said at this point.”

In a statement, ABC said that Ross’ alleged scoop “had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process.”

“As a result of our continued reporting over the next several hours ultimately we determined the information was wrong and we corrected the mistake on air and online,” ABC said, without providing a timeline.

The statement concluded:

It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience — these are our core principles. We fell far short of that yesterday. Effective immediately, Brian Ross will be suspended for four weeks without pay.

Newsbusters reminded readers that this wasn’t Ross’ first blunder:

When the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting occurred, Ross falsely asserted that the gunman was a “Jim Holmes” who belonged to a Colorado Tea Party group. That was almost immediately debunked as the shooting was carried out by another James Holmes who had nothing to do with the Tea Party.

Ross was also behind the false reports in 2001 that linked Saddam Hussein to the anthrax attacks in the United States that paralyzed the country following the September 11 attacks.

At the end of the day, a suspension is appropriate, but these three errors and still being able to keep your job as the chief investigative correspondent for one of the “big three” networks? Mark it down as yet another reason why people dislike the media.

Related:

If you haven’t checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so.  And be sure to check out our new MeWe page here.

If you appreciate independent conservative reports like this, please go here and support us on Patreon.

And if you’re as concerned about online censorship as we are, go here and order this book (Now available at a ten percent discount.  Only 11 copies left at this price right now…).

Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad
Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad – Source: Author (used with permission)

 

Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

Related Articles

Our Privacy Policy has been updated to support the latest regulations.Click to learn more.×