Trump: ABC ‘owes an apology’ over use of fake combat footage

President Trump lashed out at an ABC News reporter during a Wednesday press conference over the network mistakenly showing footage that reportedly appeared to be from a gun range in Kentucky that they broadcast as from Syria.

ABC’s chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl asked Trump during the Wednesday press conference about his decision to pull troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to launch their offensive against Kurdish forces in the region.

“Even after all you have seen, ISIS prisoners freed, all the humanitarian disaster, you don’t have any regret for giving Erdoğan the green light to invade?” Karl asked Trump, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

{mosads}Trump rejected the idea that he gave the Turkish leader a “green light” and said he pulled the soldiers last week for their safety.

“When you make a statement like that it’s so deceptive,” Trump responded. “Just the opposite of a green light. First of all, we had virtually no soldiers there. They were mostly gone. Just a tiny little group. And they would have been in harm’s way. You have a massive army on the other side of the border.”

.@jonkarl asks @realDonaldTrump if he gave Turkey “the green light” to attack the Kurds

“When you ask a question like that, it’s very deceptive,” Trump said

“Almost as deceptive as you (ABC) showing all the bombings in Syria and it turns out the bombing took place in Kentucky.” pic.twitter.com/akgb33QfU5

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 16, 2019

Trump also offered to release a “very powerful letter” he wrote about the issue, although he did not specify which letter in the press conference. A letter Trump wrote to Erdoğan was released Wednesday.  

He then criticized ABC for airing the mistaken footage on Sunday’s “World News Tonight” and Monday morning on “Good Morning America.”

“When you ask a question like that, it’s very deceptive, John. It’s almost as deceptive as you showing all of the bombings taking place in Syria and it turns out the bombing that you showed on television took place in Kentucky,” Trump said.

“So I’m not even sure that ABC apologized for that, but certainly it was a terrible thing. I’m looking at this. I say ‘wow that’s pretty bad,’ and it was in Kentucky,” Trump continued. “It wasn’t in Syria, so I don’t know what you’re going to do about that. But I think ABC owes an apology.” 

Both shows on which the footage appeared issued a correction.

CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on “World News Tonight” Sunday and “Good Morning America” this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error.

— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 14, 2019

CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on “World News Tonight” Sunday and “Good Morning America” this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error.

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) October 14, 2019

Trump also tweeted about the mistaken footage Monday, as well as accusing the network of asking Hunter Biden “softball” questions in an interview. 

A big scandal at @ABC News. They got caught using really gruesome FAKE footage of the Turks bombing in Syria. A real disgrace. Tomorrow they will ask softball questions to Sleepy Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, like why did Ukraine & China pay you millions when you knew nothing? Payoff?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2019