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 House communications staffer and Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, blasted the AP on X (formerly Twitter), calling the organization “total trash” for its misleading reporting.
“This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully biased media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is,” Henning wrote.
Contrary to the AP’s misleading report, Gabbard was discussing U.S.-India relations in an interview with India’s NDTV, highlighting the strong personal and diplomatic ties between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi. She said that Trump’s leadership has strengthened the relationship between the two countries and praised Modi for his long-standing leadership in India.
Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman who broke ranks with her party over its radical policies, now serves as the nation’s Director of National Intelligence. As part of her visit to India, she is attending an international security and economic conference, with additional stops planned in Japan and Thailand.
“AP has removed its story about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘are very good friends’ because it did not meet our standards. We notified customers and published a corrected story with an editor’s note to be transparent about the error,” the AP Press said in a statement to Fox News.
Though the AP claims it retracted the story to maintain journalistic integrity, the damage was already done.
In recent weeks, tensions have escalated between President Trump’s administration and The AP over the naming of the Gulf of Mexico. In January 20, President Trump directed federal agencies to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” The AP chose to continue using the traditional name, “Gulf of Mexico,” in its reporting.
In response, the White House barred AP journalists from attending certain presidential events, including those in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One, citing the AP’s refusal to adopt the new terminology as the reason for this exclusion
