AP caught red-handed making false claims about Gabbard — forced to retract story

The Associated Press was forced to withdraw one of its Monday articles after it falsely claimed that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin "very good friends."

The now-retracted article incorrectly reported that Gabbard said Trump and Putin are "focused on strengthening ties." However, Gabbard was not referring to Trump's relationship with Putin but rather to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

'If this isn't a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is.'

Gabbard's misrepresented quotes were taken from an interview with India's NDTV released Monday.

"The ties between our two countries, the United States and India, go very, very far back," she told NDTV. "What we're continuing to see is a strengthening of that partnership and recognizing that the mutual interests of both of our countries are centered around peace, prosperity, freedom, and security."

"We have two leaders of our two great countries who are very good friends and are very focused on how we can strengthen those shared objectives and those shared interests," Gabbard added.

The AP article, titled "Gabbard says Trump and Putin are 'very good friends' focused on strengthening ties," was retracted from its website and replaced with a statement declaring that the outlet had decided to withdraw the story.

It read, "The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'are very good friends.' Gabbard was talking about Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The AP will publish a corrected version of the story."

As of Tuesday morning, the article was removed from the AP's website. However, the article remains live on some news publishers that utilize the AP's feed.

The original AP article read, "U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'are very good friends' who are focused on ways to strengthen the bonds between the United States and Russia."

"Gabbard said ties between Russia and the U.S. go 'very far back' and that Trump is committed to expanding a relationship centered 'around peace, prosperity, freedom and security,'" it continued.

The AP claimed, "Gabbard's comments reflect the dramatic shift in U.S.-Russia relations under Trump, who has boasted of his relationship with Putin, blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion and taken a hard line against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy."

The outlet further claimed that Gabbard had "echoed Russian propaganda about the war and expressed sympathy for Russia."

All of Gabbard's quotes mentioned in the article were her comments about India and Modi. Regardless, it claimed that her falsely attributed comments about Trump's and Putin's "friendship" had "alarmed some critics of Trump's call for warmer relations with Moscow."

Alexa Henning, Gabbard's deputy chief of staff, torched the AP for its false reporting.

"The @AP is total trash," Henning wrote in a post on X. "DNI @TulsiGabbard was referring to PM Modi & President Trump and this is the headline they publish."

"This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully bias[ed] media. If this isn't a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is," she added.

The AP told Fox News Digital, “AP has removed its story about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘are very good friends’ because it did not meet our standards. We notified customers and published a corrected story with an editor’s note to be transparent about the error.”

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