I feel like I’m writing one of these every few hours because I suppose I am. There’s been so much misinformation reported in regards to the Trump-Ukraine saga that I can hardly keep up at this point. The original reports of a quid pro quo were wrong. The reports that Trump brought up Biden eight times were wrong. Reports the Intel Chief threatened to resign were false. Claims he demanded an investigation were also false. I could keep going.

To put it lightly, the media have gotten almost every detail of this story wrong along the way. I wrote about most of the above in a story yesterday and one of the things I noted was a new claim being bandied about.

Here’s the tweet I quoted and my response.

Would like to know more about how this alleged “understanding” came to be known, but if Biden topic was actually a pre-condition for any phone call with Trump (I have doubts), that would extend misconduct beyond impulsive, self-serving Trump words. It would point to WH *policy.* https://t.co/PXppRoGIXt

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 25, 2019

And look, I like Guy. He works for Townhall, one of our sister sites, and also does Fox News stuff. I’m not trying to pick on him. But at what point do you just wait before running with this stuff? What part of that story is even worth considering right now given how badly these same outlets failed us just a day earlier?

Sure enough, that accusation has now fallen completely apart. It’s almost like clockwork. Maybe I should go play the loto?

A significant correction on ABC’s story. There is no reason for mistakes like this to happen unless you’re rushing out a story. pic.twitter.com/IHbPLZMweJ

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 26, 2019

But maybe they just got his identity wrong? Perhaps he still had knowledge of what he claimed?

A big nope on that score as well. He has refuted the report.

Setting record straight: @Leshchenkos confirmed to me what those of us in Kyiv already knew—he is NOT currently an advisor to Ukraine's Zelenskiy & wasn't at time of July 25 call. He said he DID NOT tell ABC insistence for leaders to discuss Biden probe was precondition for call. https://t.co/fNh5sMYj9i

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 26, 2019

Leshchenko is no longer a Zelensky adviser or Ukrainian official. Rudy Giuliani forced him out of the presidents inner circle.
I spoke to him yesterday – he said something similar re “quid pro quo” but said he’d learnt it only from media reports. https://t.co/N6rzVPjmRX

— Jonah Fisher (@JonahFisherBBC) September 26, 2019

In other words, this guy was simply repeating media reports that we already know are wrong because we now have the transcript. Nothing more. He was not an advisor to Zelensky and he did not have any knowledge of any precondition being arranged. He pointedly admits that.

Axios rushed to repeat the ABC “scoop” and got caught with their pants down as well. They issued a correction that no one saw.

This massive “correction” has 80 retweets while @Axios’ original — FALSE — tweet (based on @ABC’s FALSE “reporting”) has over 7,500. And yet they continue to let literal FAKE NEWS spread like wildfire instead of deleting it. https://t.co/6HcXYoQkli

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 26, 2019

Ask yourself why these news outlets don’t just take down the original false tweets and stories? The answer is because this is all being done on purpose. It’s about the narrative and as long as they get the fake story to enough people, they’ve accomplished their goal. Once again, there will be no consequences and the same people who fell for this, even after days of provably false reporting, will bit the hook again. It’s a cycle that never stops.

I’ve got a new twitter! Please help by following @bonchieredstate.