US News

New York Times, WaPo, NBC forced to retract false claims about Giuliani

The New York Times, Washington Post and NBC News all issued retractions Saturday for their coverage of Rudy Giuliani following a raid of his Manhattan apartment by the FBI.

The Times appended their correction to a story about the role Giuliani may have played in the 2019 recall of ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch and whether he received a warning from the FBI about Russian disinformation.

“An earlier version of this article misstated whether Rudolph W. Giuliani received a formal warning from the F.B.I. about Russian disinformation. Mr. Giuliani did not receive such a so-called defensive briefing,” The Times wrote Saturday in a note attached to the piece.

The Washington Post’s correction, on a story about prominent Americans being targeted by Russian disinformation, was similar.

“An earlier version of this story, published Thursday, incorrectly reported that One America News was warned by the FBI that it was the target of a Russian influence operation,” the paper said.

An NYPD officer places barricades outside Rudy Giuliani’s apartment building during the raid on April 28, 2021. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

“That version also said the FBI had provided a similar warning to Rudolph W. Giuliani, which he has since disputed. This version has been corrected to remove assertions that OAN and Giuliani received the warnings.”

Rudy Giuliani seen in NYC on May 1, 2021. TheImageDirect.com

NBC News also issued a mea culpa, claiming its reporting was based on a source but that a second source “now says the briefing was only prepared for Giuliani and not delivered to him, in part over concerns it might complicate the criminal investigation of Giuliani. As a result, the premise and headline of the article below have been changed to reflect the corrected information.”

Giuliani seized on the corrections, tweeting demands for the news organizations to reveal their sources.

“Where did the original false information come from? @MSNBC@CNN@nytimes I couldn’t quite hear your apology?” Giuilani tweeted Saturday.

He followed up with a second tweet slamming the Washington Post’s story as “defamatory.”

“The Washington Post and NYTNYT must reveal their sources who lied and targeted an American Citizen. #msnbc , #cnn forgot to mention the corrections today. #fakenews #badpeople,” he posted.

Federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani’s home and office on April 28, 2021. Justin Lane/EPA