8. Fatal Retraction

Longtime Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci, who played a significant role in the president’s transition team, has deep ties to a $10 billion Russian investment fund owned by a Kremlin-connected bank, CNN.com reported in a since-retracted June 22 report.

The story was taken offline after attempts to verify its central claim failed to produce anything conclusive. The original story cited a single anonymous source. The article’s sourcing was so thin, and Scaramucci’s denials so total, that CNN decided it couldn’t stand by its own coverage.

Three CNN staffers involved in the story’s publication, reporter Thomas Frank, editor Eric Lichtblau, and executive editor Lex Haris, resigned after the report fell apart.