ABC News was forced Thursday morning to correct and walk back the latest Trump-Ukraine bombshell that wasn’t.
In a world where America enjoyed the services of legitimate news organizations, the far-left ABC News would have already retracted this story, would have removed it completely, because… As you will see below, the story is now a non-story. The central premise of the story has been wiped out by the facts. But, as we all know, ABC News is not a legitimate news organization, so let me welcome you to…
Russian Collusion 2: Even More Fake Newsier!
Oh, yeah, ABC News thought We got Drumpf now fer realzies! with the bombsheLOL revelation that the White House had set a very definite “precondition” for President’s Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy: a precondition that Joe Biden must be discussed!
Holy moly!
Smoking gun!
Frog march the Bad Orange Man out of the Oval Office in handcuffs right now!
But wait… It gets worse…
This bombshell was an “on the record” statement from no one less than one of Zelenskiy’s own advisers!
That’s it!
It’s over!
THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN!!!!
Except for one little thing…
Well, actually two little things…
Okay, I lied, they are both big things…
Ginormous, really…
1) ABC’s source is not an adviser to the Ukrainian president. Oopsies.
2) The source did not tell ABC that discussing Biden was a precondition of the call. Oopsies.
In other words… The story is a fake, a fraud, doo doo, caca, dung, excrement, feces, garbage, fake news, a hoax, a con, a grift, a forgery, a scam, a sham, and did I properly welcome you to Russian Collusion 2: Even More Fake Newsier!
Now, as you know, I’m not going to link the ABC News story, because I don’t link fake news. But ABC was finally forced to add this teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy, microscopic, hardly-even-matters correction:
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Serhiy Leshchenko as a current advisor to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Leshchenko advised Zelenskiy’s transition team following his election in April but has since been distanced by the administration. He is no longer advising Zelenskiy.
And then there’s this from journalist Christopher Miller’s verified Twitter account: “Setting record straight: @Leshchenkos confirmed to me what those of us in Kyiv already knew—he is NOT currently an advisor to Ukraine’s Zelenskiy & wasn’t at time of July 25 call. He said he DID NOT tell ABC insistence for leaders to discuss Biden probe was precondition for call.”
Did you get that?
ABC’s source “DID NOT” tell ABC there was a precondition for the call.
And here’s how ABC News watered down the wording of its now not-so-bombshell:
“It was clear that [President Donald] Trump will only have communications if they will discuss the Biden case,” said Serhiy Leshchenko, an anti-corruption advocate and former member of Ukraine’s Parliament, who had been a former adviser to Zelenskiy but has recently been distanced from the administration. “This issue was raised many times. I know that Ukrainian officials understood.”
So ABC News has gone from “precondition” to “understood.”
Look at what just happened here…
ABC News went from… An adviser to Ukraine’s president says a Trump precondition meant that Trump would not take Zelenskiy’s call if Biden was not discussed! — to — Some guy who used to work for Zelenskiy but hasn’t for a long time says something was understood, or something.
To begin with, you don’t make an honest mistake about whether your source is or is not a current adviser to the president of Ukraine.
Sorry, you just don’t.
ABC News knew this story was a pile of crap and reported it anyway because that is what the media has been doing throughout the Trump era: Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie to win a news cycle against Trump, and then say oops.
Just like the Russia Collusion Hoax, we see this time and time and time again… As soon as the hoax falls apart, as the Ukraine Hoax did on Wednesday with the release of the phone call transcript, to cover up the debunking of their fake news, the media start hurling all the fake news they can get their hands on.
Yesterday, it was the far-left Washington Post with its fake news about Trump’s acting Director of National Intelligence threatening to resign. Today it’s ABC News straight-up lying about this.
Currently, 95 percent of Americans are troubled by the state of the media. Before the 2020 election is over, this will hit 99.9 percent. The holdouts will be Jim Acosta and Jake Tapper.
I could be wrong, but I honestly don’t think the overall public pays attention to the media anymore. They just roll their eyes and wait for it to be debunked, and it always is.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.