Brian Ross, the chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, has been suspended for four weeks without pay after incorrectly reporting that Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, would testify that President Trump had directed him to make contact with Russian officials while Mr. Trump was still a candidate, the network announced on Saturday.
Mr. Trump directed Mr. Flynn to make contact after the election, as president-elect, the network said.
ABC initially issued a clarification after Mr. Ross made the statement during a live broadcast on Friday but later called it a correction.
— ABC News (@ABC) December 2, 2017
Ross’s initial report, which he said was informed by a confidant of Mr. Flynn’s, would have been a bombshell revelation in the continuing investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the presidential election.
The network’s tweet about the claim was shared more than 25,000 times before ABC deleted it, according to The Washington Post.
Kathleen Culver, the director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the mistake would give fresh ammunition to Mr. Trump and other conservatives who have attacked the credibility of news organizations, especially those that have reported negatively on the administration.
Congratulations to @ABC News for suspending Brian Ross for his horrendously inaccurate and dishonest report on the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt. More Networks and “papers” should do the same with their Fake News!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017
“This error plays right into the hands of people who callously try to say that news media all just lie,” Ms. Culver said in an interview on Saturday night.
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