AP Retracts Rand Paul Story After Reporting the Opposite of What He Actually Said

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks at the March for Life on January 25, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

The Associated Press retracted a story Sunday after wildly misreporting a quote by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).

The article, which can still be seen on many of the sites that utilize the Associated Press, began: "WASHINGTON -- A Republican senator says he sees some in his party favoring a 2016 presidential candidate with an immigration policy that would 'round people up ... and send them back to Mexico.'"

The retraction notice explains:

The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., saying he sees some in the his party favoring a 2016 presidential candidate with an immigration policy that would "round up people ... and send them back to Mexico."  That quote was in the transcript of "Fox News Sunday" that was distributed after Paul's interview on the show.  A subsequent Associated Press review of an audio recording of the show determined that the transcript had dropped the word "don't" from that quote, and Paul actually said, "They don't want somebody who wants to round people up, put them in camps and send them back to Mexico."  ​[All emphasis added]

Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard noted that while the FoxNews transcript ​did inaccurately record Paul's comments, "shouldn't it be someone's responsibility at the nation's leading wire service to crosscheck the accuracy of such transcripts especially given the disclaimer at the top of the page [that it is a rush transcription]?"

Many news agencies, including TheBlaze, utilize the Associated Press as a wire service to provide extra content for readers.  Such stories are often automatically published, so the story was likely seen by countless viewers across left and right-leaning websites.

Philly.com is one of many sites to utilize the Associated Press as a wire service. (Photo: Philly.com)

Politico's Dylan Byers concluded by calling it the "retraction of the year."

Here's video of Paul's remarks, which TheBlaze posted earlier today:

(H/T: Newsbusters)

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