Three journalists from CNN’s investigative team have resigned after an internal review found flaws in an investigation that tied a senior adviser of President Trump to an investment fund overseen by the Russian government.
The author of the story, Thomas Frank, the story’s editor, Eric Lichtblau and CNN Investigates Executive Editor Lex Haris have all left the network, according to CNN.
The story, which was published on Thursday, connected Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, an investment vehicle of the Russian government. The story was based on one anonymous source, and the network retracted it Friday after discovering it “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards.”
In a statement provided to CNN, the network said it had “accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story’s publication.”
The network’s investigation into the article had not disproved the original story, according to a source at CNN quoted by The Washington Post. Rather, it uncovered a breakdown in editorial processes that warranted its retraction.
“There was a significant breakdown in process,” says a CNN source. “There were editorial checks and balances within the organization that weren’t met.”
