Eric Trump promised Lawrence O’Donnell that legal action was coming in a Wednesday evening tweet aimed at the MSNBC host.
“This was a reckless attempt to slander our family and smear a great company,” Trump tweeted. “Apologies are not enough when the true intent was solely to damage and cause harm. As a company, we will be taking legal action. This unethical behavior has to stop.”
This was a reckless attempt to slander our family and smear a great company. Apologies are not enough when the true intent was solely to damage and cause harm. As a company, we will be taking legal action. This unethical behavior has to stop. @Lawrence @MSNBC https://t.co/i4X6CcdkCm
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) August 29, 2019
O’Donnell had begun his show Tuesday night by claiming that he had a bombshell to report with regard to Deutsche Bank and President Donald Trump’s finances — something of a holy grail among media outlets and Congressional Democrats — only to admit later in the show that he had gotten the information from a single source and would need more verification to confirm its veracity. (RELATED: Lawrence O’Donnell Floats Bombshell About Trump Taxes, Later Says Story Will Need ‘A Lot More Verification’)
As the Daily Caller previously reported:
O’Donnell opened his show with his possible scoop, hyping it during an exchange with Rachel Maddow, who hosts the show prior to his.
“I want to get your reaction to it now, because I don’t want you to leave the building,” said O’Donnell.
“This single source close to Deutsche Bank has told me that Donald Trump’s loan documents there show that he has co-signers. That’s how he was able to obtain those loans, and that the co-signers are Russian oligarchs,” he continued.
O’Donnell added later in the show, “I want to stress, that’s a single source. This has not been confirmed by NBC News. I have not seen any documentation from Deutsche Bank that supports this and verifies this.”
He apologized Wednesday, saying, “Last night I made an error in judgment by reporting an item about the president’s finances that didn’t go through our rigorous verification and standards process. I shouldn’t have reported it and I was wrong to discuss it on the air. I will address the issue on my show tonight.”
Last night I made an error in judgment by reporting an item about the president’s finances that didn’t go through our rigorous verification and standards process. I shouldn’t have reported it and I was wrong to discuss it on the air. I will address the issue on my show tonight.
— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) August 28, 2019
Trump, who serves as Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, did not elaborate on what exactly the company planned to pursue.