ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl finds himself in an unusual and never comfortable position: he has become the news.
Karl has released a statement expressing “regret” after it was revealed that he inaccurately identified reviewing handwritten notes based on emails as having reviewed the actual emails in his bombshell “exclusive” on Benghazi. While Karl did say that his story was based on “summaries” on the web story, in the stories that aired on the ABC news broadcasts it was reported that ABC had “obtained” the emails.
The full emails, (the first of which was obtained by Jake Tapper) which were released later that week, revealed content and quotations that did not entirely match up with the notes that Karl was given, although they did support some of the issues Karl raised. That said, Karl and ABC News maintain that the crux of the reporting–the changing talking points–remains accurate.
“I regret that one email was quoted incorrectly and I regret that it’s become a distraction from the story, which still entirely stands,” said Karl in a statement. “I should have been clearer about the attribution. We updated our story immediately when new information became available.”
Karl became the story on cable news last week, and was even mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he was effectively accused of being used by Republicans by White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer. Karl was also one of the stories covered on “Reliable Sources.”
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Friday dedicated a substantial amount of time to Karl in a 20-minute (!!) segment.
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