Some ABC affiliates inadvertently helped Republicans and President Trump build a campaign email list on his birthday

The Daily Beast

Some of ABC's largest affiliates asked its viewers to sign a "birthday card" in celebration of the president's 73rd birthday. But it turns out the birthday card "is actually a petition website created by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee to harvest email addresses that can be used during the 2020 campaign," according to The Daily Beast. A spokesperson for ABC’s affiliate stations said the piece was initially posted “by an overnight producer at one of our local stations and they did not follow the station’s editorial standards.” Other stations then posted their own versions before they were taken down.