The Washington Post and the Associated Press have issued corrections on their earlier reports that then-President Trump told a lead Georgia elections investigator to "find the fraud" and that the investigator would be "a national hero."
The Washington Post ran a correction to the original story from December, stating that they "misquoted Trump's comments on the call, based on information provided by a source."
"Correction: Two months after publication of this story, the Georgia secretary of state released an audio recording of President Donald Trump's December phone call with the state's top elections investigator. The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump's comments on the call, based on information provided by a source," The Washington Post stated in the correction.
"Trump did not tell the investigator to 'find the fraud' or say she would be 'a national hero' if she did so. Instead, Trump urged the investigator to scrutinize ballots in Fulton County, Ga., asserting she would find 'dishonesty' there. He also told her that she had 'the most important job in the country right now.'"
The Associated Press also issued the correction, stating they "erroneously reported that Trump pressed the investigator to "find the fraud" and that she would be "a national hero."
"The Associated Press, based on information provided by a source, erroneously reported that Trump pressed the investigator to "find the fraud" and said it would make the investigator a national hero," the Associated Press said in a statement. "A recording of the call made public two months later revealed that Trump did not say either and instead said that if the investigator looked into Fulton County the investigator would "find things that are gonna be unbelievable."
The full statement by the Associated Press is below:
ATLANTA (AP) — In a story January 9, 2021, about a phone call between then-President Donald Trump and a lead Georgia elections investigator, The Associated Press, based on information provided by a source, erroneously reported that Trump pressed the investigator to "find the fraud" and said it would make the investigator a national hero. A recording of the call made public two months later revealed that Trump did not say either and instead said that if the investigator looked into Fulton County the investigator would "find things that are gonna be unbelievable." Trump also told the investigator: "When the right answer comes out, you'll be praised."
