Brian Ross leaving ABC months after false Flynn report

ABC News veteran Brian Ross is leaving the news organization along with his longtime producer, according to a Monday announcement.

The pair are leaving ABC less than a year after a false report from December 2017 that said President Trump had instructed national security adviser Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

{mosads}ABC apologized for the error and eventually retracted the story. Ross was suspended for four weeks and permanently pulled off stories pertaining to the president.

“After more than two decades at ABC News, Brian Ross and [producer] Rhonda Schwartz have decided to leave the company,” ABC News President James Goldston said in a Monday memo to staff.

“Over the years they have built a team of the best investigative journalists in our industry, and they leave behind an outstanding group that will continue to break stories for many years to come,” he added.

Ross’s Flynn report had serious repercussions at the time, promoting the Dow Jones industrial average to fall more than 350 points minutes after it was aired.

“We deeply regret and apologize for the serious error we made yesterday,” ABC said in a statement on Dec. 2. “The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process.”

“It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience — these are our core principles,” the network added at the time. “We fell far short of that yesterday.”

The president celebrated the Ross suspension, arguing the “bad reporting” caused damages to the point “people who lost money” should sue for damages.

“People who lost money when the Stock Market went down 350 points based on the False and Dishonest reporting of Brian Ross of @ABC News (he has been suspended), should consider hiring a lawyer and suing ABC for the damages this bad reporting has caused – many millions of dollars!” Trump wrote on Dec. 3.

People who lost money when the Stock Market went down 350 points based on the False and Dishonest reporting of Brian Ross of @ABC News (he has been suspended), should consider hiring a lawyer and suing ABC for the damages this bad reporting has caused – many millions of dollars!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017