Fake News Debacle Hits CNN, Three Staffers Quit Over A ‘Fabricated’ Story On Russian Investment Firm

Only 36 hours after CNN was forced to retract a fake 'Russian collusion' story, three of its staff members, who were involved in its reporting and publishing of the now-retracted story, have resigned, the Washington Post has reported.

The CNN story in question here tried to draw a link between Anthony Scaramucci, a Trump transition team member, whose name was discussed for a possible White House position but who never ended up taking it, and a Russian investment fund. According to the report, the US Senate Intelligence Committee was investigating a wealthy Russian investment fund "whose chief executive met with a member of the transition team four days before Trump's inauguration."

In a major goof up, CNN in its story claimed that the fund in question was a part of Russian state bank Vnesheconombank. However, this is not the case, as Sputnik News revealed, saying the agency became independent in 2016.

CNN has now issued an apology. “That story did not meet CNN's editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scaramucci,” the news network has said in its statement.

“In the aftermath of the retraction of a story, CNN has accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story’s publication,” the network added.

This isn’t the first time that CNN has landed in trouble for reporting unverified Russia-related stories. Days ahead of James Comey's testimony before the Senate select committee on intelligence, CNN had claimed in a report that the former FBI chief will contradict Trump's claims that Comey had told him that he wasn't a target of the agency's probe. However, Comey testified to the opposite effect, saying that he confirmed such claims to Trump.

According to Fox News, journalists and publishers at CNN will now require approval from network’s two top editors before reporting any Russia-related story.