Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported the Saudi government will donate $100 million dollars to the World Bank's Women's Entrepreneurs Fund. Key words: World Bank. White House advisor and President Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump has been vocal about the importance of the fund and supportive of its mission. From the piece:
The World Bank announced Sunday at an event with Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president’s daughter and senior White House adviser, that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have pledged a combined $100 million to a fund that will assist women entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Ms. Trump has made the promotion of women entrepreneurs a signature part of her focus since her father’s inauguration in January. She has advocated for issues such as paid family leave, though the issue has gained little traction in Congress. While she had proposed the idea of the World Bank fund, Ms. Trump doesn’t control it or raise money for it, one person familiar with the plans said.
A number of members of the media, including journalists and pundits, didn't bother reading about the details and falsely claimed the Saudi government was giving the money to a fund run and owned by Ivanka herself. Calling it the "Ivanka Fund," they went so far as comparing the donation to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's abuse of her public office to raise money for the Clinton Foundation.
The problem? The two aren't remotely comparable and yet this false assumption was proliferated to hundreds-of-thousands, if not millions of people.
Here's a handy list of some folks who helped spread the false story:
1. CNN's Ana Navarro
Ivanka Fund got $100MM pledge from Saudis & UAE.
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) May 21, 2017
But oops! Trump is like Hallmark cards. There's an old tweet to celebrate every occasion. pic.twitter.com/ONZzpG5hRM
2. CNBC's John Harwood
"that KSA/UAE will donate money to Ivanka's fund was 'pay to play' more blatant than anything HRC ever dreamed of" https://t.co/djcqzSadCt
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 22, 2017
3.CNN's Jim Sciutto
This is virtually identical to what Trump and others in GOP criticized Clinton Foundation for. https://t.co/AcwddFeuYW
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 21, 2017
4. MSNBC's Kyle Griffin
5. Author Bruce BartlettTrump then: Clinton has been given millions by countries that "want women as slaves and to kill gays." https://t.co/jGYmRwdB2m
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 21, 2017
Trump now: https://t.co/mWkFVgpRIt
I'm old enough to remember when Trump thought such donations to the Clinton Foundation were a scandal. https://t.co/wvC1fGJ7R3
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) May 21, 2017
Corrections have not been issued.
As Cortney reported earlier, WSJ Contributor Sohrab Ahmari did his best to push back with the truth.
Good Lord. All these reporters/pundits just read the tweet rather than the WSJ story. The funds go to the *World Bank* not to any Trump org. pic.twitter.com/Nz1Mx0C4V9
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) May 21, 2017
It's hopeless. 30K retweets for Navarro's "Ivanka Fund" tweet. It's become an immortal piece of fake news https://t.co/5fvHkcmgVV
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) May 21, 2017
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