Yeserday, CNN posted what was purported to be a blockbuster revelation that the Senate Intelligence Committee was investigating a Trump adviser, Anthony Scaramucci, for meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the $10-billion Russian Direct Investment Fund, only four days before Trump was sworn in. This is the lede from a web cache of the article:

Senate investigators are examining the activities of a little-known $10-billion Russian investment fund whose chief executive met with a member of President Donald Trump’s transition team four days before Trump’s inauguration, a congressional source told CNN.

The source said the Senate intelligence committee is investigating the Russian fund in connection with its examination of discussions between White House adviser Jared Kushner and the head of a prominent Russian bank. The bank, Vnesheconombank, or VEB, oversees the fund, which has ties to several Trump advisers. Both the bank and the fund have been covered since 2014 by sanctions restricting U.S. business dealings.

The article follows up with a lot of quotes that, unsurprisingly, show that Dmitriev wants better relations with the US and that Scaramucci is dubious about increasing sanctions. They take these quotes, add in that Scarmucci and Dmtriev were both at Davos, Switzerland, and they have a conspiracy theory worthy of anything Radio Pacifica generated about the Iran-Contra investigation.

It's ok. I did nothing wrong. They like hitting friends of @potus who are loyal advocates on his behalf. https://t.co/58LdPff6bV

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 22, 2017

Bingo. Being someone who is not rabid, foaming at the mouth anti-Trump is like entering a free fire zone. I can’t even imagine what it is like for his friends, family, or active supporters.

Obviously lawyers got involved, CNN did an “update” of the post and then CNN folded like a cheap suit.

An editor's note from CNN https://t.co/YssSkRP9C5 pic.twitter.com/LrS7L3nz5R

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 24, 2017

For them to retract and apologize that quickly–even after running an update–shows just how craptacular the story was.

I don’t expect this to change CNN’s editorial vendetta against Trump and his administration. Maybe, though, getting burned to the ground by basing a major story on one anonymous source might make them more circumspect in the future…but I’m not holding my breath.