A chyron broadcasted on ABC News Wednesday erroneously said former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to five counts of manslaughter.
ABC News was covering President Donald Trump’s remarks on signing a memorandum halting child separation at the U.S.-Mexico border when a chyron appeared that read “Manafort pleads guilty to 5 charges of manslaughter.”
A federal judge last Friday jailed Manafort ahead of his trial, citing recently filed obstruction charges by special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissman. Robert Mueller indicted the veteran lobbyist in Virginia and Washington on charges ranging from money laundering to tax fraud.
The company tweeted an apology to its viewers and Manafort for the error.
“We regret and apologize for the false lower third graphic that aired during our special report,” ABC News said in a statement. “We are investigating how incorrect information was in our system and how and why it was allowed to air.”
Statement from @ABC News: We regret and apologize for the false lower third graphic that aired during our special report. We are investigating how incorrect information was in our system and how and why it was allowed to air. (1/2)
— ABCNews PR (@ABCNewsPR) June 20, 2018
“We apologize to our viewers and to Mr. Manafort. There simply is no excuse for this sort of mistake,” the network added.
(cont.) We apologize to our viewers and to Mr. Manafort. There simply is no excuse for this sort of mistake. (2/2)
— ABCNews PR (@ABCNewsPR) June 20, 2018
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