Trump gloats as three CNN journalists quit over retracted story

WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to gloat yesterday after news broke that three journalists from media network CNN had resigned over a retracted story about a close ally of Mr Trump being allegedly investigated for links to a Russian investment fund.

Mr Trump tweeted: "Wow, CNN had to retract big story on 'Russia,' with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!"

The three journalists are Mr Thomas Frank, the writer of the story, Mr Eric Lichtblau, an editor in CNN's investigative unit, and Mr Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, the network had earlier reported.

The story, published last Thursday, said Congress was investigating hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci's ties to a Russian investment fund.

CNN later reported that an internal investigation by its management found certain editorial processes were not followed when the article was published. It deleted the story from its website on Friday night after its investigation.

The resignations are a black eye at a sensitive moment for the news organisation, which has emerged as a regular target of Mr Trump and his supporters, who have accused the channel of harbouring a bias against the President.

Mr Trump sent further tweets late yesterday, adding: "Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!"

He later widened his attack to other news organisations: "So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!"

CNN's president Jeffrey Zucker has invested enormous resources in political and investigative coverage of the Trump White House, and he was deeply upset by last week's reporting errors, according to insiders.

REUTERS, NYTIMES

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 28, 2017, with the headline Trump gloats as three CNN journalists quit over retracted story. Subscribe