News agency AP deletes inaccurate anti-Trump tweet

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - An official from U.S. president's re-election campaign has slammed the Associated Press' now-deleted tweet on the impeachment process, saying it is "egregiously wrong".

"Contradicting the testimony of his own ambassador, President [Donald] Trump says he wanted 'nothing' from Ukraine and says the #ImpeachmentHearings should be brought to an end," the AP’s tweet read.

"This tweet from @AP is egregiously wrong. In fact it’s about the opposite of true," Tim Murtaugh, communications director for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, said Wednesday on Twitter, and added: "[U.S. Ambassador to EU Gordon] Sondland testified that POTUS told him: 'I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo."

Murtaugh also shared a video including that part of Sondland's testimony.

"It was a very short abrupt conversation, he was not in a good mood, and he just said, 'I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky to do the right thing,' something to that effect," the ambassador can be heard as saying in the video.

After the readers pointed out AP's inaccuracy, it deleted the tweet and issued a correction: "An earlier tweet that didn’t make clear that President Trump was quoting from Gordon Sondland’s testimony in which he was quoting Trump has been deleted."

Trump also took to Twitter after Sondland's testimony and said "The Republican Party, and me, had a GREAT day yesterday with respect to the phony Impeachment Hoax."

"Yet, when I got home to the White House & checked out the news coverage on much of television, you would have no idea they were reporting on the same event. FAKE & CORRUPT NEWS!," he complained.

Democrats in the House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry into Trump on Sept. 24 following claims by a whistle-blower that the president tried to pressure Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections.

In a July 25 telephone call, Trump allegedly made some $400 million military aid contingent on Zelensky launching a probe into Biden, and his son, Hunter, a businessman, over corruption allegations.