On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” host Lawrence O’Donnell retracted and apologized for a report that President Trump had received loans that were co-signed by Russian oligarchs.
O’Donnell said, “Last night, on this show, I discussed information that wasn’t ready for reporting. I repeated statements a single source told me about the president’s finances and loan documents with Deutsche Bank. Saying ‘if true’ as I discussed the information was simply not good enough. I did not go through the rigorous verification and standards process here at MSNBC before repeating what I heard from my source. Had it gone through that process, I would not have been permitted to report it. I should not have said it on air or posted it on Twitter. I was wrong to do so. This afternoon, attorneys for the president sent us a letter asserting the story is false. They also demanded a retraction. Tonight, we are retracting the story. 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.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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