Fox News mistakenly calls NH for Trump

Fox News says a ‘malfunction’ led to Donald Trump being crowned the winner of New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary Tuesday hours before the contest’s conclusion.

Trump “won” the election in a botched posting on the news outlet’s website, according to Politico.

{mosads}“During routine testing for the New Hampshire primary a malfunction occurred which briefly showed errant data on our website,” Fox News Chief Digital Strategist Jeff Misenti said in a statement. “This error has been rectified. We apologize any confusion this may have caused.”

The real estate mogul won 28 percent and 14 delegates, with all precincts reporting, according to Politico’s report on the flubbed results.

Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) took second, with 15 percent, edging out Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), who had 12 percent, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, at 11 percent. They each shared three delegates, the publication added.

Fox News listed 9 percent of the vote going for Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), 8 percent for former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.), 4 percent for former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and 2 percent for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Politico said the news outlet did not award of those candidates delegates. Former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R-Va.) ranked last, with 574 votes and zero percent voter support in the false data.

National Review writer Charles C.W. Cooke initially noticed the accident before publicizing it on Twitter, Politico first reported. 

Fox calls the NH primary, for some reason. Do they know something we don’t? https://t.co/DNtiKUx64J pic.twitter.com/3sn3I9EWVK

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 9, 2016

Trump holds a wide lead heading into Tuesday’s vote in Hampshire. He has a 17-point edge over the other Republican White House hopefuls, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.