On the November 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume reported that a rare-coins scandal in Ohio “led to ethics charges against [Ohio's] Republican Governor Robert Taft last year” but did not report that Taft was convicted of those charges after entering a “no contest” plea. Hume was reporting that Tom Noe, a major Republican fundraiser, “was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for embezzling more than $13 million from a state investment in rare coins,” and that the charges against Taft grew out of that investigation.

As an August 19, 2005, Washington Post article noted, Taft “issued a public apology after being convicted on four misdemeanor counts for failing to report 52 golf outings, dinners and other entertainment gifts. He was fined $4,000, the maximum.” According to the Post article, “Among the golf outings [that Taft failed to report] were two from [Noe], who is at the heart of a larger scandal involving the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, which invested approximately $50 million in rare coins through Noe. Investigators later found $10 million to $13 million was missing.” According to a November 21 Cleveland Plain Dealer article, “Prosecutors said Noe used his political influence in Columbus [Ohio] to obtain the investment funds, beginning with $25 million in 1998, followed by another $25 million in 2001.” In September, Noe was sentenced to 27 months in prison on federal charges of giving more than $45,000 in illegal campaign contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign.

Taft was also ordered by the sentencing judge to issue a public apology, in which Taft stated:

As governor, I have made it clear that I expect all public employees to follow both the letter and the spirit of the ethics laws, and have demanded no less of myself. I have personally failed to live up to those expectations, as well as the expectations of the public, and I am disappointed in myself.

[...]

Words are not adequate to express the remorse that I feel personally for the embarrassment that I have caused to my administration and to this great state. I want to offer my sincere and heartfelt apology to my family, friends, staff members and all those who have supported me. Most importantly, I want to apologize to the citizens of Ohio.

The August 18, 2005, edition of Special Report, which was anchored that day by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, also reported that Taft “admitted he failed to report 52 gifts, in the form of golf outings, dinners, and tickets to hockey games, each valued at more than $75.”

From the November 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

HUME: Ohio Republican fundraiser Tom Noe was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for embezzling more than $13 million from a state investment in rare coins. The investigation into Noe's misdeeds led to ethics charges against Republican Governor Robert Taft last year, and the scandal is widely thought to have contributed to the defeat of Ohio Republicans in this month's elections, including the offices of governor and U.S. senator.