ABC News issued an editor's note admitting errors in its report on Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump's investments tied to Pentagon contracts.
Page F115From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 10 October 2026
Coalition invokes decades-old ownership limit to stop consolidation; FCC repeals the limit, 2-1
As it ran on the front
The chief puts the parts on the table in the order they arrived, and the first one is a letter. On 22 September, Senator John Curtis of Utah asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the business dealings of the president's family and the former president's, and to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden, citing concern about families trading on proximity to power. Subpoena power is standing authority. The committee has it already, and a member of the majority asked for it in writing.
On 23 September, government lawyers told a federal court that press coverage of the president is a privilege, not a right. The next day, a Trump-appointed judge ordered White House access restored to CNN, MS NOW and Politico. The planner admires that part of the assembly: a filing one day, an order the following one.…
…(cont) The tinkerer keeps building. On 1 October, the defense secretary handed a task force on the future of warfare to major Trump donors. On 3 October, Elon Musk returned to Washington and the conflict-of-interest questions returned with him. On 7 October, ABC News published its own analysis estimating that companies financially backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have taken more than $6 billion in Pentagon contracts, much of it through 1789 Capital, a venture firm founded by pro-Trump donors in 2023 that brought Trump Jr. in as a partner in 2024.
Then the story went down and came back thinner, carrying an editor's note that admits errors without saying which sentences moved. The Daily Caller's subhead carries the claim made against it: that ABC deleted the article "in less than 24 hours because it's false." The note tells a reader something was wrong. It does not tell them what, which is the one thing a correction is for.
The muscle turns to the week's other deletion. A coalition had invoked the decades-old ownership limit against the consolidation spree; the FCC voted 2-1 to repeal that limit, and the rule the coalition's filing rested on is no longer on the books.
What remains on the table still assembles. Subpoena power does not expire with a news cycle. The docket answered a filing in a day. And the $6 billion estimate was published once, by a newsroom, as its own analysis; an editor's note does not unaward a contract, and the arithmetic can be run again. The pilot has it at the door. The reader judges whether it flies.
“They'll tell you the ownership limit had to go because the market changed; the limit went the same week a coalition picked it up and pointed it at the merger. And the one newsroom that put a number on the president's sons and the Pentagon pulled its own story and put back a shorter one without saying which part it lost. Six billion dollars in defense contracts, and the receipt is the thing that got edited.”
“Look, an editor's note is accountability — ABC corrected itself, which is what you people say you want. Did I say the story was false? I said there were errors, I don't know what changed either, that's not my — and the ownership rule predates the internet, the commission voted in public, two to one, that's a process. Next question.”
Earlier in this story
- FCC repeals media ownership limits 2-1 while ABC quietly thins the report on Pentagon contracts for Trump's sons. By The Wrecking Crew · the morning edition, 10 October 2026
- Taxpayers to receive 40 percent stake in the $6.6bn shipyard they are funding; Republican donor's firm owns it By Sterling · the midnight edition, 7 October 2026
- Appeals court to decide fate of rollback signed by the secretary who doubted the deaths were real By Ruth · the early evening edition, 5 October 2026
- Health secretary who doubted two measles deaths watches Pennsylvania confirm a fifth By Lou · the breakfast edition, 4 October 2026
- Pentagon puts its biggest contractor on the war-planning board, then moves troops from Europe to South America By Sterling · the milkman edition, 4 October 2026
- Pentagon moves troops out of the hemisphere where it claims no oil and into the one where it has claimed 35 percent, then seats a contractor with billions of dollars in military contracts on the body planning the future of war By Sterling · the midnight edition, 4 October 2026
The receipts
‘ABC deleted this article in less than 24 hours because it’s false’
· GOP senator calls for subpoenaing Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden over their business dealings from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· GOP senator calls for subpoenaing Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden to question them on their business dealings from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Republican senator calls for Don Jr. and Hunter Biden to be subpoenaed over business dealings from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· GOP Sen. John Curtis calls for Trump Jr., Hunter Biden investigations from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Is Trump’s son-in-law and top negotiator a midterm liability for Republicans? from the morgue, 7 Oct 2026
· Companies Backed by Trump Sons Have Scored Over $6 Billion in Pentagon Contracts: Analysis from the morgue, 7 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.