A New York Times story about alleged collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign won an award last month, despite the fact that former FBI Director James Comey verified the story was "almost entirely wrong."
A Feb. 14, 2017 story, titled, "Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts with Russian Intelligence," won a George Polk Award from Long Island University, the Washington Times reports.
"Special recognition goes out this year to the staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post for their extraordinary effort in uncovering the connection between the Trump presidential campaign and the Kremlin that led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation," the award citation read. "The Polk judges felt the investigative work, based on the cultivation of sources, was equally outstanding on the part of both newspapers and may play a significant role in safeguarding our democracy from foreign interference."
However, when then-FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence four months later, Sens. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and James Risch (R., Idaho) asked Comey about that Times story.
"You were asked earlier if that was an inaccurate story, and you said, 'in the main.' Would it be fair to characterize that story as almost entirely wrong?" Cotton asked.
"Yes," Comey said.
"So — so, again, so the American people can understand this, that report by the New York Times was not true. Is that a fair statement?" Risch asked.
"In — in the main, it was not true. And, again, all of you know this, maybe the American people don’t," Comey said. "The challenge — and I’m not picking on reporters about writing stories about classified information, is that people talking about it often don’t really know what’s going on."
The public affairs office for the Times didn't respond immediately to the Washington Times with comment.