Politico added a “correction” and a lengthy editor’s note to its article Monday evening after originally claiming President Donald Trump currently “owes” millions to the Bank of China.
The additional correction appeared to come after former Vice President Joe Biden pushed the false claim during an interview on CBS4 Monday.
“And talk about business dealings – look at the business dealings the president [Trump] has with China. He owes, apparently, millions of dollars to the Bank of China,” Biden claimed Monday.
Politico first reported Friday that Trump currently “owes” millions of dollars to the Bank of China and that “the loan is due soon.” (RELATED: Trump Says China Should Face Consequences If It ‘Knowingly’ Caused Pandemic)
Politico quietly edited its story after it was determined that Trump apparently did not currently owe the Bank of China millions of dollars. The original edit only noted that the “article and headline were updated to include comment from the Bank of China and additional reporting.”
It did not mention the fact that the entire basis of the article – that Trump currently “owes” money to the Bank of China – appeared to be false.
The publication added further notes about the article’s change late Monday evening, apparently after Biden’s comments. Now, a “correction” appears at the bottom of the article. A separate editor’s note was also issued.
“Correction: An earlier version of this article reported that President Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China stemming from a 2012 real estate deal,” the article now notes. “Though Bank of China helped finance the deal, it later sold its interest in the loan.”
Biden last night pushed this now-corrected report by Politico regarding Trump owing China “millions of dollars”
Politico today: “Our commitment at POLITICO is to journalism that gets its facts straight. We regret we fell short in this case.”https://t.co/OCNLAYPGI5
— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) April 28, 2020
The editor’s note attempted to explain how the article was bungled so badly and what steps Politico apparently took to correct its reporting.
“POLITICO attempted to reach other parties to the refinancing throughout the weekend and Monday,” according to the editor’s note. “Wells Fargo on Monday confirmed the Bank of China’s statement that it had been listed as a creditor on the building in error. Bank of China said Wells Fargo is taking steps to correct the record with an updated filing.”
“Consequently, the story was updated a second time on Monday evening to take account of the apparent mistake in the public record. Our commitment at POLITICO is to journalism that gets its facts straight. We regret we fell short in this case.”