Disney-owned ABC News was forced to delete and correct a sloppy hit piece targeting President Donald J. Trump’s sons, another black eye for the “fake news” media.
Eager to promote the Democrats’ narrative of Trump family corruption, the outlet rushed to put out the story alleging that companies that have ties to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have scored billions of dollars in government contracts.
Titled “Trump sons’ investments have won billions in Pentagon contracts since his election,” the Wednesday article mysteriously and inexplicably disappeared from the ABC News website, with visitors attempting to click on the link getting a 404 error, meaning the page could not be found.
This is absolutely wild per Status — ABC News completely retracted this story like two days ago just totally nuked it. No note, no explanation , no comment. It had been shared by tons of top lawmakers and democratic officials. https://t.co/FJUKmR9YyA
— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) October 9, 2026
The story was initially pounced on by Democrats looking to capitalize on what turned out to be a “smoking gun” that misfired, or as the Status media blog derisively described it, “ABC’s 404 fiasco.”
On Friday, an updated version reappeared with a prominently featured editor’s note acknowledging that the facts didn’t fit the original report, a major embarrassment for the embattled “news” organization which has been accused of anti-Trump bias.
“Editor’s Note: CORRECTION: A version of this story published on Oct. 7 contained errors in the description of certain company investments, government contracts and event chronologies. After subsequent reporting, this version contains corrected information and additional context regarding some of those investments, contracts and events,” the note read.
WHOOPS!
ABC’s humiliation came after it was rebuked by Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for 1789 Capital, the venture capital firm where Don Jr. is a partner.
This post shows you have literally zero financial literacy.
1789 Capital does not have a “major stake” in Anduril.
It’s false to say Vulcan, Firehawk, and PsiQuantum are “backed by Don Jr and Eric Trump.”‘
Here’s a small lesson, that I also explained to ABC, the “reporter” who is a complete idiot conflated raising funds with investment by 1789. Those are two separate actions.
Meaning the “investments” mentioned were actually the total number raised for a funding round, that MANY companies contribute to.
Another thing that the reporter buried the lead on was that many of these companies have gotten government contracts during Biden AND Trump, which completely negates the assertion by ABC that Don Jr and Eric Trump are doing anything wrong.
Total biased hit piece that is not being regurgitated by dumb trolls on the internet.
— Alexa Henning (@alexahenning) October 8, 2026
“This post shows you have literally zero financial literacy. 1789 Capital does not have a ‘major stake’ in Anduril. It’s false to say Vulcan, Firehawk, and PsiQuantum are ‘backed by Don Jr and Eric Trump,'” she wrote in a post to X after ABC News published its report.
“Here’s a small lesson, that I also explained to ABC, the ‘reporter’ who is a complete idiot conflated raising funds with investment by 1789. Those are two separate actions,” Henning added.
One of the Democrats who jumped on the inaccurate version of the article was outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom, a man with White House aspirations and very poor judgment.
Trump Jr. mocked the oily Democrat for posting the deleted “bombshell” that only further blew up ABC’s credibility.
ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it’s false. Sounds about as long as your presidential campaign would last.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 8, 2026
“ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it’s false. Sounds about as long as your presidential campaign would last,” the president’s eldest son wrote in a post to X, zinging the one-time 2028 Dem frontrunner whose stock is falling like a rock.
Is it any wonder why public faith in the media is at an all-time low?
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