Trump tweet about CNN âfake newsâ is itself fake news and still uncorrected â ThinkProgress
Colton Haab
Last weekâs CNN town hall on gun violence featured strong calls for action from survivors of the Parkland shooting  a combative NRA spokesperson  and a nervous Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). It did not feature Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student   Colton Haab   who had been set to attend the town hall.
The reason why  Haab  wasnât there  according to what  Haab  told media in the days after the town hall  was because CNN tried to tell  him  what to say. But this argument fell apart on Tuesday after Haabâs father Glenn admitted he had doctored an email exchange with CNN which made it look as though CNN was directing what Colton could say at the town hall. This caused even Fox News to admit  grudgingly  that the Haabsâ initial claims were suspect and there was no evidence CNN tried to give him a scripted question.
 Colton Haab  was reportedly one of several JROTC students who helped protect dozens of classmates by hiding them in a JROTC classroom.  He  spoke about this to outlets such as Fox & Friends  and advocated arming trained teachers in schools.
CNN reached out to  Haab  about participating in the town hall  but  he  told the local ABC affiliate the day of the event that  he  refused to attend because âCNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions and it ended up being all scripted.â  He  showed two pieces of paper with the speech  he  had initially emailed to CNN  along with several questions.
 Haab  went on Tucker Carlsonâs Fox News program the following evening  and said first someone from CNN asked for a speech  and then asked for âmore questionsâ which  Haab  said  he  was fine with. Then  he  told Carlson  the day of the event  CNN âhad taken what I had wrote  and what I had briefed on and talked about  and they actually wrote the question for  me .â  He  said  he  believed that CNN had supplied other students who participated in the event with questions  and that  he  found the whole thing âshockingâ and âupsetting.â
On Tuesday  Haabâs father  who had helped facilitate his sonâs communications with CNN  admitted that he had doctored an email sent to media to push the claim that CNN had told  Colton  what to say. He said he omitted some words  but did not do it on purpose  according to the AP. Both versions of the exchange have CNN asking Glenn Haab to make  Colton âs questions shorter âso that we can get to as many people as possible.â Then the key sentence: âThis is what  Colton  and I discussed on the phone that he submitted.â The version of the exchange  Glenn Colton  circulated to media after the event omitted the words âthat he submitted.â
Though  Glenn Colton  said  he  did not omit the words on purpose and âthere was nothing malicious behind it â the omission changed the basis of the conservative mediaâs freakout enough that  even Foxâs Tucker Carlson  who had Colton Haab on his show the day after the town hall to make these claims  issued a brief correction on his Tuesday show.
  Carlson  reviewed the story  said that CNN and the Haabs had shared the differing emails with Fox the day after the Haab interview  and that the Haabs âsaid they were being slandered by CNN and that is where it stood  two sides telling contradictory storiesâ¦â
 He  then got to the news of the doctored email exchange:
Last weekâs CNN town hall on gun violence featured strong calls for action from survivors of the Parkland shooting  a combative NRA spokesperson  and a nervous Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). It did not feature Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student   Colton Haab   who had been set to attend the town hall.
The reason why  Haab  wasnât there  according to what  Haab  told media in the days after the town hall  was because CNN tried to tell  him  what to say. But this argument fell apart on Tuesday after Haabâs father Glenn admitted he had doctored an email exchange with CNN which made it look as though CNN was directing what Colton could say at the town hall. This caused even Fox News to admit  grudgingly  that the Haabsâ initial claims were suspect and there was no evidence CNN tried to give him a scripted question.
 Colton Haab  was reportedly one of several JROTC students who helped protect dozens of classmates by hiding them in a JROTC classroom.  He  spoke about this to outlets such as Fox & Friends  and advocated arming trained teachers in schools.
CNN reached out to  Haab  about participating in the town hall  but  he  told the local ABC affiliate the day of the event that  he  refused to attend because âCNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions and it ended up being all scripted.â  He  showed two pieces of paper with the speech  he  had initially emailed to CNN  along with several questions.
 Haab  went on Tucker Carlsonâs Fox News program the following evening  and said first someone from CNN asked for a speech  and then asked for âmore questionsâ which  Haab  said  he  was fine with. Then  he  told Carlson  the day of the event  CNN âhad taken what I had wrote  and what I had briefed on and talked about  and they actually wrote the question for  me .â  He  said  he  believed that CNN had supplied other students who participated in the event with questions  and that  he  found the whole thing âshockingâ and âupsetting.â
On Tuesday  Haabâs father  who had helped facilitate his sonâs communications with CNN  admitted that he had doctored an email sent to media to push the claim that CNN had told  Colton  what to say. He said he omitted some words  but did not do it on purpose  according to the AP. Both versions of the exchange have CNN asking Glenn Haab to make  Colton âs questions shorter âso that we can get to as many people as possible.â Then the key sentence: âThis is what  Colton  and I discussed on the phone that he submitted.â The version of the exchange  Glenn Colton  circulated to media after the event omitted the words âthat he submitted.â
Though  Glenn Colton  said  he  did not omit the words on purpose and âthere was nothing malicious behind it â the omission changed the basis of the conservative mediaâs freakout enough that  [TGT]  to make these claims  issued a brief correction on his Tuesday show.
   [TGT] reviewed the story  said that CNN and the Haabs had shared the differing emails with Fox the day after the Haab interview  and that the Haabs âsaid they were being slandered by CNN and that is where it stood  two sides telling contradictory storiesâ¦â
 He  then got to the news of the doctored email exchange: