AP Retracts Terry McAuliffe Story About Lying in Death Benefits Scam Investigation

Oops

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe was caught up in a minor scandal Wednesday night when a report from the Associated Press erroneously identified the Democratic nominee as being mentioned in an indictment and saying that he had lied to investigators. The report, first sent out around 9:45 p.m., turned out to be false and the AP retracted the story shortly before 11:30 p.m.

The story, which is still up on some websites with an accompanying disclaimer, claimed that, "Documents in a federal fraud case allege that…Terry McAuliffe lied to a federal official investigating a Rhode Island estate planner now imprisoned for receiving death benefits on annuities secured on terminally ill people without their knowledge."