NYT, NBC, WaPo Make Major Retraction In Rudy Giuliani Russia Influence Story

Three major news outlets made a major retraction to a story claiming Rudy Giuliani received advance notice from the FBI that he was the target of a Russia influence campaign.

The misinformation provided by multiple mainstream media outlets comes within days of a bombshell story in which federal agents in Manhattan conducted a raid on Giuliani’s Upper East Side apartment.

Axios reports that the Washington Post, New York Times, and NBC News were all forced to retract the claim indicating Giuliani, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, had been briefed about being the target of a Russian influence operation.

“An earlier version of this article included an incorrect report that Rudolph Giuliani had received a defensive briefing from the FBI in 2019 warning him that he was being targeted by a Russian influence operation,” NBC News admits.

“The report was based on a source familiar with the matter, but a second source now says the briefing was only prepared for Giuliani and not delivered to him,” they add before noting “the premise and headline of the article below have been changed to reflect the corrected information.”

CORRECTION: We reported the @FBI warned @RudyGiuliani in a defensive briefing that some of the information he was pushing on the Bidens was tainted by a Russian disinformation campaign.

But Giuliani did not receive such a defensive briefing. https://t.co/Q0VYVQR2Xd pic.twitter.com/S61VOL01IU

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) May 2, 2021

RELATED: Feds Raid Apartment Of Former Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani

Correction On Giuliani/Russia Story

Remember the good old days when media outlets actually tried corroborating stories before running with them?

NBC News’ correction regarding the Giuliani/Russia story admits they simply ran with information from a lone source which was later debunked by a second source.

Once again, the sources were anonymous people who were “familiar” with the matter.

“All the original reports,” according to CNN, “were attributed to anonymous sources.”

“The corrections are black eyes to the newsrooms which have aggressively reported on Giuliani’s contacts with Ukrainians in his attempts to dig up dirt on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden,” adds CNN.

How bad does your reporting have to be to have CNN calling you out?

Giuliani tweeted over the weekend that, “The Washington Post and the NYT must reveal their sources who lied and targeted an American Citizen.”

On a Saturday, the Washington Post added this correction to their defamatory story about me. The Washington Post and the NYT must reveal their sources who lied and targeted an American Citizen. #msnbc , #cnn forgot to mention the corrections today. #fakenews #badpeople pic.twitter.com/NhBX7EwQdk

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) May 1, 2021

RELATED: GOP Reps Question Possible ‘Political Interference’ By Biden Administration In Census Numbers

Calling Out the Media Over ‘False Information’

“Where did the original false information come from?” Giuliani asked in a separate tweet tagging MSNBC, CNN, and the New York Times. “I couldn’t quite hear your apology?”

The raid on Giuliani’s apartment and his office is part of an ongoing investigation into his dealings in Ukraine while serving as the personal lawyer of former President Trump.

Federal investigators in Manhattan searched Rudy Giuliani’s apartment and office and seized his electronic devices. Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president. https://t.co/aiDt112Zln

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 28, 2021

Attorney Alan Dershowitz slammed the FBI over the raid, calling it “inappropriate.”

“In banana republics, in Castro‘s Cuba, in many parts of the world when a candidate loses for president, they go after the candidate, they go after his lawyers, they go after his friends,” Dershowitz said during a podcast interview over the weekend.

“That’s happening in America now. They’re going after Rudy Giuliani.”

Giuliani, according to the Times, denied any wrongdoing and argued the search warrants demonstrated a “corrupt double standard” by the Biden Justice Department.