Politico reported Friday that President Trump “owes tens of millions to the Bank of China” — an extremely troubling revelation insofar as the Emoluments Clause is concerned.
But there is a rather large problem with the supposed bombshell report: It is not true, and Politico has had to issue a 400-plus-word editor’s note admitting error.
“Our commitment at POLITICO is to journalism that gets its facts straight,” the note reads. “We regret we fell short in this case.”
But “fell short” does not even begin to describe this journalistic disaster.
The most glaring problem is that, for a story about money supposedly owed to the Bank of China, not one of the three Politico journalists involved in this report contacted the Bank of China.
The editor’s note actually reads [emphasis added], “On Friday evening, POLITICO received a statement from a representative for Bank of China USA, which had not been contacted beforehand, that the bank had sold off, or securitized, its debt shortly after the 2012 deal.” It appears the three journalists also failed to contact the loan’s servicer, Wells Fargo, prior to the report’s publication.
The three groups that Politico contacted for comment over the course of the story’s production include the White House, Vornado Realty Trust (the primary investor), and the Trump Organization. Vornado did not respond to requests for comment, and neither the White House nor the Trump Organization provided an on-the-record quote.
Despite all of that, Politico determined anyway that the story was ready for prime time. It was not.
The report’s headline read originally, “Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China — and the loan is due soon.” The subhead read, “The president’s financial dealings with the state-owned bank complicate his attacks on Biden.”
The headlines have since been corrected to read, “Trump owed tens of millions to Bank of China,” and “The president’s financial dealings with the state-owned bank complicate his attacks on Biden.”
The story also carries a correction that reads, “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. Though Bank of China helped finance the deal, it later sold its interest in the loan.”
In other words, there is not much of a story left. But if you think a lengthy editor’s note and a correction will be enough to set the record straight, undoing the damage of the original erroneous report, boy, have you got another thing coming. The original narrative is now canon. Its false core claim is being repeated by presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“And talk about business dealings,” the former vice president said in an interview with a CBS News affiliate, “Look at the business dealings the president has with China. He owes, apparently, millions of dollars to the Bank of China.”
Politico’s reporters could have prevented this if they had held out for more concrete confirmation. But they did not because, apparently, it is more important today to be first than to be correct.
