Washington Post’s now-corrected Steele dossier reporting remains on Twitter

Washington Post pulls some stories based on Steele dossier

Fox News contributor Joe Concha on the Washington Post correcting and retracting two stories regarding the Steele dossier.

The Washington Post corrected and removed large chunks of its own reporting on the anti-Trump Steele dossier on Friday, admitting it “could no longer stand by the accuracy” of those elements – but the inaccurate information was not removed from Twitter. 

Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the Trump-Russia probe further discredited the already-shaky dossier by indicting Igor Danchenko, a Russian national who pleaded not guilty Wednesday to making false statements about the source of information that he provided to Steele.

The Washington Post corrected and removed large chunks of its own reporting on the anti-Trump Steele dossier on Friday, but the initial reporting wasn’t taken off Twitter.  (ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)
(ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)

The Washington Post had previously identified Belarusian-American businessman Sergei Millian as a key source of the dossier – “Source D” – that paved the way for corporate media to paint former President Donald Trump as compromised by Russia. However, Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi wrote the indictment suggests, “Danchenko may have gotten his information about the hotel encounter not from Millian but from a Democratic Party operative with long-standing ties to Hillary Clinton,” noting Clinton ally Charles Dolan, Jr. could be the unnamed operative.  

As a result, the Washington Post on Friday became the first major news organization to correct the record. The paper altered two major stories, adding editor’s notes, and deleting sections of its reporting that identified Millian as a key source of the dossier.

“The newspaper’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, said The Post could no longer stand by the accuracy of those elements of the story,” Farhi wrote. 

While Buzbee doesn’t stand by the accuracy of the story, it remained on Twitter through at least Monday afternoon – three days after the paper correcting its reporting. 

The Washington’s Post official Twitter account shared the original version headlined, “Who is ‘Source D’? The man said to be behind the Trump-Russia dossier’s most salacious claim.”

The Post’s politics Twitter account in 2019 wrote, “Sergei Millian, identified as an unwitting source for the Steele dossier, sought proximity to Trump’s world in 2016.”

Both tweets were still active three days after the paper’s correction. 

Reporter Rosalind Helderman also shared the story on Twitter. 

“Two years later, just who was Sergei Millian, a key source for the Steele dossier? Amazingly, it’s still unclear. But we have new details about how he sought proximity to Trump,” Helderman wrote. 

The Washington Post did not immediately respond when asked by Fox News Digital if tweets with the information Buzbee deemed to be inaccurate would be taken down. 

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Twitter has been on a selective crusade against what it deems misinformation for years. The social media platform famously censored the New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden’s laptop last year, claiming it was based on “hacked materials” and limited sharing of the article. It also suspended the paper’s account before lifting the ban after an outcry.

Twitter has also permanently suspended accounts that it feels share misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccines. However, Big Tech has a checkered history of deciding what is and isn’t misinformation and critics have accused Twitter of a liberal agenda when making such decisions. 

Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report. 

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