Fox News Forced to Retract Statement
Something must be in the mainstream media water lately causing them to pump out stories they later have to retract. Fox News show Fox & Friends pumped out a story Monday morning that set the talking heads on fire. Fox & Friends anchor Jillian Mele reported that former FBI Director James Comey’s memos centered around meetings with President Trump were classified as Top Secret. Obviously this set off the conservative media and President Trump who fired up the twitter machine, claiming Comey had committed a crime. Fox & Friends retracted the story Tuesday morning but the damage has been done
On Monday morning, Fox & Friends news anchor and former CSN Philly host Jillian Mele reported on a new “bombshell” originating from The Hill news site that former FBI Director James Comey’s personal memos detailing meetings with President Donald Trump contained “top secret information.”
Trump, who regularly watches Fox & Friends (sometimes four hours after it airs), saw the report and quickly re-tweeted it to his nearly 34 million followers. He commented on the report in a subsequent tweet, accusing Comey of breaking the law.
There’s just one problem — the report wasn’t true.
The Hill’s John Solomon reported that “more than half” of Comey’s memos contained classified information, but at no point does the report claim that the any of the specific memos he leaked through a friend to the New York Times were classified.
The Hill’s report also stated some of the memos “contained information classified at the ‘secret’ or ‘confidential’ level,” but did not state the information was “top secret,” as Mele reported.
On Tuesday morning, 24 hours after the incorrect report fueled a days worth of incorrect discussion about Comey’s memos, Fox & Frends co-host Steve Doocy issued an on-air statement that the show was “mistaken.”
“Yesterday on this program we aired and tweeted this story saying former FBI director James Comey leaked memos containing top secret information,” Doocy said. “We were mistaken, in that according to the report half of the information in the report clarified secret or classified level, not top secret.
“Documents in which Mr. Comey leaked are at this point unclear,” Doocy added. “Just wanted to straighten that out.”
It’s worth noting that the correction was neither shared on the show’s Twitter account and doesn’t appear to be posted anywhere on the Fox News website.
The tweet about the report remains on the president’s Twitter account, as does his accusation that Comey broke the law. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the president plans on clarifying or correcting his comments.
Last month, Fox & Friends weekend host and former Fox 29 anchor Clayton Morris was forced to issue an on-air statement that he and his co-hosts thought the idea suggested by two guests that setting up internment camps in England as a solution to terror attacks was “reprehensible.”
“I think all of us here find that idea reprehensible here at Fox News channel,” Morris said, which became noteworthy because of Trump’s devotion to the show and his frequent willingness to share clips and segments.
The Fox & Friends clarification comes on the heels of high-profile retractions by both CNN and Fox News, both involving stories that were posted and subsequently removed from their respective websites.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
