THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS. I’ve got things to do.
- ABC News misstated a Trump-linked investment in defense contractor Anduril by approximately $2.45 billion.
- Sen. Bernie Moreno has asked the FCC to investigate the network’s handling of the report.
- Eric Trump now says he can’t wait to participate and wants to know who approved the original story.
MORE TO IT. I’ve got time.
ABC News’s extraordinary $2.45 billion reporting error involving a company connected to Donald Trump Jr. has produced another headache for the network. Eric Trump is now publicly backing a senator’s demand for an FCC investigation — and asking whether the reporter responsible has been fired.
On Monday, Eric Trump responded to Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno’s request that the Federal Communications Commission examine ABC’s handling of its deleted and subsequently rewritten investigation.
“Thank you @berniemoreno — can’t wait to participate!” Eric Trump wrote on X.
He followed with a considerably sharper assessment.
“You can’t publish a bulls**t hit-piece, let it spread and go viral, then delete it 24 hours later, under the cover of darkness with no explanation or apology. Who approved it? Has the author been fired? @ABC owes us answers,” he wrote.
The dispute began with an October 7 ABC report examining business relationships involving the president’s sons and federal defense contracts.
ABC originally described venture capital firm 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, as having acquired a major stake in defense contractor Anduril through a $2.5 billion investment.
That figure was wrong. The $2.5 billion represented Anduril’s broader fundraising round. According to the company, 1789 Capital invested approximately $50 million.
The distinction wasn’t minor. Anduril told ABC that 1789 Capital owned approximately 0.13% of the company and had no major investor rights.
What happened after the company challenged the story may be just as revealing as the original mistake.
According to emails obtained by Semafor, ABC investigative reporter Nathan Lee initially defended the wording after consulting his editors.
“Apologies, but my editors said we are standing by the language,” Lee wrote in one exchange.
ABC subsequently removed the article. The network described it as having been published prematurely, but Semafor’s reporting indicated that editors had previously reviewed and defended the disputed language.
When ABC republished the story on October 9, it carried a substantially different headline, a revised account of the transactions and an ABC News byline rather than the original reporter’s name.
The network’s correction acknowledged errors involving company investments, government contracts and the chronology of events.
Moreno, meanwhile, asked FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to examine what happened.
“We must know who signed off on the publication of this false story,” Moreno wrote in his request, which also questioned whether the network had violated its broadcasting obligations.
There is an important distinction between requesting an investigation and the FCC actually opening one. The reporting reviewed for this article establishes Moreno’s request and Eric Trump’s support, not a formal finding of wrongdoing by federal regulators.
But ABC’s original reporting error has now developed into a broader controversy over editorial oversight, corrections and whether the network adequately explained what happened.
And Eric Trump has made clear he wants to be part of whatever comes next.
PROVE IT. I don’t trust anybody.
- Fox News — Eric Trump backs FCC investigation request and questions ABC’s handling of the story
- Fox News — Sen. Bernie Moreno calls for FCC investigation
- Semafor — Emails contradict ABC’s explanation for removing the Anduril report
