3 CNN journalists quit after Russia article retracted

NEWYORK/SEOUL: CNN on Monday accepted the resignations of three journalists involved in a retracted story about a supposed investigation into a pre-inaugural meeting between an associate of US President Donald Trump and the head of a Russian investment fund.

The story was posted on the network’s website on Thursday and was removed, with all links disabled, on Friday night. CNN also apologised to Anthony Scaramucci, the Trump transition team member who was reported to be involved in the meeting.

The story’s author, Thomas Frank, was among those who resigned, according to a network executive. Also losing their jobs were Eric Lichtblau, an assistant managing editor in CNN’s Washington bureau, and Lex Haris, head of the investigations unit.

CNN said it didn’t meet its editorial standards.

The story had been quickly questioned both internally and externally, including by the conservative site Breitbart News. It was determined that the story was posted without going through the expected checks and balances for a story of such sensitivity, the executive said.

The failure to follow proper procedures is what led to the resignations, the CNN executive said.

It’s not immediately clear what in the story is factually incorrect, or whether CNN will continue to report on the issue. The retracted story had said the Senate intelligence committee was looking into a January 16 discussion between Scaramucci and Kirill Dmitriev, whose Russian Direct Investment Fund guides investments by U.S. entities in Russia. Scaramucci, in the story, said he exchanged pleasantries in a restaurant with Dmitriev.

Following the retraction, Scaramucci tweeted that CNN “did the right thing. Classy move. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on.”

NORTH KOREA LIKENS TRUMP TO HITLER

North Korea likened US President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler in its latest diatribe amid high tensions over Pyongyang’s military ambitions.

An editorial on the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) dialled the hostile rhetoric up higher, slamming Trump’s key policies as being akin to “Nazism in the 21st century.”