Fake News Traffickers New York Times, Washington Post, and NBC News Retract Claim From “Anonymous Sources” That FBI Warned Rudy Giuliani About Russian Influence
Evan James
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Three major (fake) news sources—the New York Times, Washington Post, and NBC News—have retracted a false claim that the FBI warned Rudy Giuliani about how he was the target of a Russian “disinformation” plot.
The FBI raided Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment early Wednesday morning, seizing multiple phones and computers in connection to an investigation of his activities in Ukraine. The New York Times stated that “the execution of search warrants is an extraordinary action for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president.”
On Saturday morning the Times, the Post, and NBC News all published follow-up stories claiming that the FBI formally warned Giuliani about a Russian “influence operation” in which he was a target. But by Saturday evening they had all issued retractions.
The New York Times‘ correction, which appears only at the very bottom of the article, reads as follows: “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 Washington Post‘s correction: “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. 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.”
And NBC News’ correction: “An earlier version of this article included an incorrect report that Rudolph Giuliani had received a defensive briefing from the FBI in 2019 warning him that he was being targeted by a Russian influence operation. The report was based on a source familiar with the matter, but 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.”
All three outlets reported that the claim came from “anonymous sources.” Giuliani tweeted Saturday that they “must reveal their sources who lied and targeted an American Citizen” [sic].
Giuliani has been under investigation for almost two years over his alleged failure to register as a foreign agent for his work in Ukraine. He denies ever representing a “foreign national” and has blasted the FBI’s recent raid as “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” He told Tucker Carlson on Thursday that he has offered to cooperate with law enforcement since the beginning of the probe in 2019.
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