CNN retracts story tying Scaramucci to a Russian investment fund
■ The claim
A CNN investigative article said Congress was examining a Russian investment fund (the Russian Direct Investment Fund) whose CEO had allegedly met Trump associate Anthony Scaramucci shortly before the inauguration. The story rested on a single anonymous source.
■ What actually happened
CNN took the story down the next night, saying it did not meet its editorial standards, and apologized to Scaramucci. On June 26, 2017, CNN accepted the resignations of the reporter (Thomas Frank), the editor (Eric Lichtblau) and the executive editor of CNN Investigates (Lex Haris). People familiar with CNN's internal review said it found a serious breakdown in process rather than proof that the story was false.
■ The proof
CNN's formal retraction and apology, followed by its announcement that it had accepted three staff resignations. The precise claim was withdrawn as unsupported, not shown to be false.
■ Original reporting
- CBS News: 3 journalists resign from CNN after network retracts Russia-related storyhttps://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/cnn-journalists-resign-story-retraction-anthony-scaramucci
■ Corrections, findings & records
- Poynter: 3 CNN journalists responsible for retracted article resignhttps://www.poynter.org/news/3-cnn-journalists-responsible-retracted-article-resign
- CNBC: Three CNN journalists resign after Russia-related article retractedhttps://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/27/three-cnn-journalists-resign-after-russia-related-article-retracted.html
■ Wayback Machine copies
Stories sometimes get edited after publication. These links open the Internet Archive's earliest snapshot of each original.
- Archive copy: CBS News: 3 journalists resign from CNN after network retracts Russia-related storyhttps://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/cnn-journalists-resign-story-retraction-anthony-scaramucci
■ Grade
RETRACTED: The outlet itself retracted, corrected, or settled. How we grade →