The Associated Press has deleted a tweet which falsely claimed Ambassador Sondland and President Trump contradicted each other over the defunct “quid pro quo” narrative in the Ukraine Impeachment hearings.
At 12:08PM EST, the official Associated Press Twitter account issued a tweet which said: “Contradicting the testimony of his own ambassador, President Trump says he wanted “nothing from Ukriane [sic] and says the #ImpeachmentHearings should be brought to an end”.
In fact, Ambassador Sondland said outright that Trump wanted nothing from Ukraine, and that there was no quid pro quo expressly ordered to him by the President.
AP was taken to task over their lie by Congressman Mark Meadows and the 2020 Trump campaign team:
UPDATE: The Associated Press has deleted this false tweet https://t.co/AWZxMa1Axg pic.twitter.com/TRX1TvZHEZ
— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) November 20, 2019
This is not a contradiction. It is a direct quote from Amb. Sondland's testimony. https://t.co/UfSgLNOH8s
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) November 20, 2019
Here are Sondland’s words:
Sonland relates a conversation he had with President Trump:
SONLAND: What do you want from Ukraine?
TRUMP: I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I just want Zelensky to do the right thing, to do what he ran on. pic.twitter.com/ICmbe54I9y
— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) November 20, 2019
AP made no statement or apology, nor clarification for their deeply erroneous message.