Conservative author of Trump book admits he screwed up badly by claiming that Obama officials held ‘political correctness’ meetings in the White House

The abbreviation “PC” can stand for a variety of things, from “personal computer” to “political correctness” — or it can stand for Principals Committee, as in the National Security Council Principals Committee. And conservative writer Doug Wead, author of the forthcoming book “Inside Trump’s White House: The Real Story of His Presidency,” is admitting that what he wrongly reported as “political correctness” meetings held under President Barack Obama were actually Principals Committee meetings.

Wead’s book isn’t due out until November 26, but the publisher’s PR firm published an excerpt from it in which an anonymous White House source is quoted as saying that intelligence officials in the “previous administration” — meaning the Obama Administration — “spent a lot of time in the White House doing nonstop PC meetings. They would have a meeting every week, and at the conclusion of the meeting, there was always the suggestion, ‘Let’s meet again in two weeks.’”

Wead assumed that the source meant “PC” as in “political correctness” or “politically correct,” and Fox News was more than happy to echo the claim that members of the Obama Administration held “political correctness meetings” in the White House. But experts on national security and intelligence quickly pointed out that “PC” referred to the National Security Council Principals Committee, whose members have ranged from the president and the vice president to the attorney general, the secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department and members of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Following the backlash from people in the security and intelligence communities, Wead informed Fox News — which has often featured him as a guest — that he misunderstood his source and that the “PC meetings” the source was referring to were Principals Committee meetings and had nothing to do with “political correctness” or being “politically correct.”

Fox News’ Sam Dornan, in an article published on Fox’s website on Tuesday, claimed that the Obama Administration was “too concerned with political correctness” when it “micromanaged intelligence matters.” But Fox News had to add a clarification, posting, “An earlier version of this story accurately quoted the book as describing ‘PC’ as standing for ‘politically correct’ in characterizing certain Obama Administration meetings. The author has since informed Fox News this was due to a misunderstanding between him and his source and that the initials referred to ‘Principals Committee.’”

Fox News also changed the headline for Dornan’s article from “CIA Staff Complained About Obama White House’s Political Correctness, New Book Claims” to “CIA Staff Complained About Obama White House, New Book Claims.” So Fox News admitted its mistake while still getting in a dig at Barack Obama.