ABC's Ross gave misleading account of Obama statements in order to assert inconsistency

In a January 10 report about a real estate transaction involving Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tony Rezko, ABC's Brian Ross gave a misleading account of Obama's comments about the transaction in order to portray Obama as having "given a series of various explanations about the deal."

Ross reported, "For his part, Obama has given a series of various explanations about the deal. First, he told the Chicago Tribune that he didn't recall what his conversations were with Rezko. Four days later, he told the Chicago Sun-Times that he did recall telling Rezko about the property."

In fact, the accounts in the Tribune and the Sun-Times are similar. And in both papers, he was quoted indicating that he did not clearly recall what happened.

The Tribune reported that "Obama raised the possibility that he was the first to bring the lot to Rezko's attention" and quoted Obama as saying, "I may have mentioned to him the name of [a developer and] he may at that point have contacted that person. I'm not clear about that."

The Sun-Times quoted Obama as saying, "To the best of my recollection, I told him about the property, and he developed an interest, knowing both the location and, as I recall, the developer who had previously purchased it.".....

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