New York Post RIPS CBS Star Norah O’Donnell for Incorrect Tweet on Trump Raid

Anonymous sources are able to cut both ways. Unnamed CBS critics pounced on a CBS story in The New York Post Tuesday, claiming that Trump had tweeted inaccurately that he was saying the FBI took his passports during the Mar-a-Lago raid. 

[T]he anchor attributed the information to a single source — a big no-no at CBS News, which has a strict two-source protocol, angry CBS sources told The Post. They added that the tweets also made it sound like O’Donnell was calling the former president a “liar.”

“This is an embarrassment for CBS that the face of your network can’t even make a second call to a Justice Department rep,” one livid source said. “It’s Journalism 101.”

Trump’s hatred often leads to poor, inexact reporting that paints Trump as a victim of damaging scandal. 

Trump’s team responded by sending an email in which they acknowledged that they had taken the passports. 

CBS did respond to the Post:

In a written statement to The Post, a CBS rep defended O’Donnell’s series of tweets.

“Donald Trump publicly alleged that his passports were ‘stolen’ and in the hands of the FBI. As part of the normal reporting process, our reporters inquired with the DOJ about whether they had Donald Trump’s passports,” a CBS rep said in a statement to The Post.

“They replied that they did not,” the rep added. “Our reporting reflected that; it was true then and it is true now that the FBI was not in possession of his passports at the time. And as the tweet thread makes clear, any items that were not contained in the warrant would be returned.”

“It’s still bad journalism,” the source punched back. “She didn’t ask if the passports were ever in their possession. She didn’t say ‘no longer in possession.’”

Tuesday Night: The Post Editororial Board: 

No sooner did we warn that the media was back to relying on dubious anonymous sources to pump up anti-Trump narratives than CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell proved our point.

“According to a DOJ official,” she tweeted Monday, “the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump’s passports. Trump had accused the FBI of stealing his three passports during the search of his Mar-a-Lago home.” No name for the source, of course.

Uh-oh: Trump’s spokesperson Taylor Budowich shared quickly an email from Justice Department acknowledging it did confiscate three of the ex-prez’s passports, “one being his active diplomatic passport.”

CBS attempted to ignore the incident, but failed. FBI no longer had Trump’s passports at the time O’Donnell tweeted. No, sorry. Simply put Was painting ex-prez as an irascible.

This follows breathless Washington Post and New York Times pieces similarly promoting the anti-Trump claims of anonymous government sources — despite all the corrections and retractions the papers have had to past stories that relied on anonymous liars.

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