ABC Suspends Reporter Brian Ross Over Erroneous Report About Trump
Brian Ross, the chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, has been suspended for four weeks without pay after incorrectly reporting
that Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, would testify that President Trump had directed him to make contact with Russian officials while Mr. Trump was still a candidate, the network announced on Saturday.
“The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process.”
Mr. Ross’s initial report, which he said was informed by a confidant of Mr. Flynn’s, would have been a bombshell revelation in
the continuing investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the presidential election.
Mr. Trump directed Mr. Flynn to make contact after the election, as president-elect, the network said.
“We deeply regret and apologize for the serious error we made yesterday,” ABC said in a statement on Saturday.
“This error plays right into the hands of people who callously try to say
that news media all just lie,” Ms. Culver said in an interview on Saturday night.
