On Tuesday, Lawrence O’Donnell dropped a bombshell report on Rachel Maddow’s show.
O’Donnell, however, never vetted the story and it ended up being inaccurate, resulting in him being forced to issue an apology as well as a scathing rebuke from the President.
Just Bad Reporting
The big story that O’Donnell broke was that his “source” saw Trump’s tax returns that were submitted to Deutsche Bank.
In addition to saying Trump paid little taxes, O’Donnell also stated Trump needed co-signers for a loan.
He stated, “I stress ‘if true,’ because this is a single source who has told me that Deutsche Bank obtained tax returns…this single source close to Deutsche Bank has told me that Donald Trump’s loan documents there show he has co-signers.
“That’s how he was able to obtain those loans and that the co-signers are Russian oligarchs.”
He would go on to say this would explain every “kind word” Trump has ever uttered about Putin and Russia.
Immediately after the story was published, Trump went ballistic.
Trump’s attorneys immediately went to work to have the story retracted.
Charles Harder, one of Trump’s attorneys, stated the story could have easily been vetted with a quick internet search and that Trump did not have a co-signer on the loan.
O’Donnell apologized, sort of, stating that he did not properly vet the story, but he still did not admit the information he actually reported was untrue, quite the opposite actually.
He stated, “We don’t know whether the information is inaccurate.
“But the fact is we do know it wasn’t ready for broadcast and for that I apologize.”
Needless to say, President Trump made his opinion on the matter public via Twitter…
….for the most ridiculous claim of all, that Russia, Russia, Russia, or Russian oligarchs, co-signed loan documents for me, a guarantee. Totally false, as is virtually everything else he, and much of the rest of the LameStream Media, has said about me for years. ALL APOLOGIZE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2019
The fact is the media wants to take Trump down so badly, now they are not even willing to vet stories before taking them public.
The number one rule in journalism is to double and triple verify a source before going public with it.
If you cannot verify it, you simply don’t go with it and you do not even discuss, which O’Donnell did with this “IF” this is true disclaimer.
All O’Donnell did by going public with this story was to provide the ammunition Trump needs to attack the media heading into the 2020 election cycle.
The sad thing is that this is far from the first story that has been inaccurately reported about Trump and it will surely not be the last, which is exactly why the public no longer trusts the mainstream media.
Source: Fox News / Market Watch
We depend on our readers to help us get the word out. So, if you agree with this article, please like and share the article on your favorite social media outlet. You are also encouraged to sign up for our newsletter to ensure you can stay informed. To sign up for our newsletter, click here.