On Friday, CNN’s Gabby Orr and Manu Raju offered their national readership a glimpse of Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.

The story focused on former President Donald Trump’s role in the contest, specifically as it pertains to the two frontrunners, former Business Council of Alabama head Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville).

The article, relying throughout the piece on unnamed sources, claimed Secretary of State John Merrill was backing Brooks.

“Merrill is supportive of Brooks in the primary,” Orr and Raju wrote.

However, Merrill insists that is not the case and issued a statement Friday morning denying he was supporting or will support any candidate in Alabama’s 2022 U.S. Senate Republican primary.

“Secretary of State John H. Merrill has not endorsed and will not endorse any candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in the 2022 election cycle,” said a statement from the Alabama Secretary of State’s office.

“I have met publicly and privately with four candidates in the U.S. Senate race,” Merrill said in the statement. “I consider all of them friends, and I believe they would all represent the State of Alabama to the best of their ability. I will be excited to see the choices that are made by the registered voters in our state who cast ballots on May 24, 2022.”

CNN had since added two edits to the piece, but not a full-fledged correction.

“Merrill spoke favorably of Brooks’ chances but has not endorsed in the primary,” the article now reads, with an addendum at the bottom:

“CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to clarify that John Merrill has not endorsed anyone in the Republican primary in the Alabama Senate race.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.