AP forced to retract false story claiming Trump, Putin are ‘very good friends’ after backlash

The original story link that had the headline, "Tulsi Gabbard says Trump and Putin are “'very good friends'" now displays a page that states "page unavailable.”

Additionally, a memo going out to the outlets that syndicate the AP's stories read, "The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'are very good friends.' Gabbard was talking about Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The AP will publish a corrected version of the story."

A story with a factual headline was put in its place, which stated "Gabbard says Trump is 'looking forward to success' ahead of talk with Putin." The outlet was slammed up and down online after the false claim.

Ric Grenell, who Trump appointed to serve as an envoy for special missions, said on Monday in reaction to the false story, "This is the real problem," after the Washington Reporter's Matthew Foldi posted on X, "So Tulsi Gabbard literally did not say what the AP lied about — but here’s what I wonder: *why* and *how* did this lie from the AP come to be?"

Buzzsumo, a popular RSS feed, displayed the headline along with its correction under AP reporter David Klepper's profile.

Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard, responded to the article on X, "The AP is total trash. DNI Tulsi Gabbard was referring to PM Modi & President Trump and this is the headline they publish. This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully bias media. If this isn’t a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is."

On the new story, the outlet was forced to make an editor's note, which stated, "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."