MSNBC Host Lawrence O’Donnell Walks Back Trump ‘Russian Oligarchs’ Report
After the president’s lawyer demanded a full retraction for “false and defamatory statements.”
Paul Marotta
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday walked back allegations made during a segment of his Tuesday evening broadcast after lawyers for President Donald Trump demanded an apology and retraction.
At the top of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, the eponymous host claimed that “a single source close to Deutsche Bank” told him that loan documents with the bank revealed that Trump had co-signers that are “Russian oligarchs” close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“These statements are false and defamatory, and extremely damaging. The only borrowers under these loans are Trump entities, and Mr. Trump is the only guarantor,” attorney Charles Harder wrote in a letter sent to NBC Universal’s counsel. “Demand is hereby made that Mr. O’Donnell and NBCU immediately and prominently retract, correct and apologize for the aforementioned false and defamatory statements.”
NBC News noted on Wednesday morning that O’Donnell’s information came from “a single source who has not seen the bank records” and since the network has not seen the records, they have “not yet been able to verify the reporting.”
Shortly after Trump's lawyer issued the demand letter, O'Donnell took to Twitter to issue an apology for the “error in judgment,” adding that it was “wrong to discuss it on the air” and he’ll address this in full on his Wednesday night program.
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
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.