ABC News recently issued a correction to a digital story it published about federal contracts and the involvement of an investment company owned by President Donald Trump’s sons.
The correction, which came in the form of an editor’s note attached to the revised story, said that an earlier version of the story published on October 7 contained errors in how it described certain company investments, government contracts, and the chronological order of events. It added, “After subsequent reporting, this version contains corrected information and additional context regarding some of those investments, contracts, and events.”
The original version, written by Nathan Lee, focused on how Andruil Industries, a defense company that Trump’s sons partially backed through their investment firm 1789 Capital, was awarded Pentagon contracts. The story alleged 1789 Capital invested billions of dollars into Andruil Industries.
According to Status and Semafor Media, a 1789 Capital spokesperson reached out to ABC News seeking a correction to the story about how much it had invested in Andruil, which was in the millions and not billions, and the role played by Donald Trump Jr. in it.
ABC News initially stood by its story, according to Semafor, but after 1789 Capital threatened legal action, it abruptly pulled the story from the website, leaving a 404 error page with no explanation. Meanwhile, the revised story’s byline was changed from Lee to ABC News.
Now, the story appears with the correction note indicating the changes.
