ABC News Chief Rips Staffers

James Goldston

ABC News president James Goldston excoriated staff Monday over Brian Ross' major error on a report about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and announced that Ross, the network's chief investigative reporter, will no longer cover stories related to President Trump.

Acxcording to CNNMedia, Goldston also told staffers that the network was conducting a "full review" of the error and its aftermath.

Ross had initially reported Friday morning that Flynn was prepared to testify that Donald Trump as a candidate had instructed him to reach out to the Russians. Ross said more than seven hours later on "World News Tonight" that his information was actually that Flynn was prepared to testify Trump made the request as president-elect. On Saturday evening, ABC News said Ross had been suspended for four weeks without pay for what it termed the "serious error."

During ABC News' morning editorial call Monday, audio of which was obtained by CNN, Goldston excoriated his staff for the error.



Goldston noted that ABC News "spent this weekend getting absolutely pilloried as a news division for reporting fake news."