The Associated Press has been caught once again pushing a misleading narrative—this time, falsely attributing a statement to U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard regarding President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After publishing an erroneous report claiming Gabbard described Trump and Putin as “very good friends,” the AP was forced to retract the story and issue a correction.
The original AP article, written by David Klepper and published on March 17, inaccurately reported that Gabbard characterized the relationship between Trump and Putin in overly friendly terms. However, Gabbard was actually referring to Trump’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not the Russian leader.
The AP later admitted its mistake, withdrawing the piece and issuing a correction: “Eds: This story was updated on Mar. 17, 2025, to delete erroneous reporting that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘are very good friends.’ Gabbard was talking about Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Critics were quick to pounce on the AP’s blunder, seeing it as yet another example of the mainstream media’s relentless attempts to smear Trump and anyone aligned with his administration. Alexa Henning, former White