ABC: Palin assertions not true

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says an investigation has cleared her of unethical activity, but ABC News said Sunday some of Palin's claims are not true.

Palin Saturday spoke with reporters about the official report that concluded she abused her power as governor in an effort to have her sister's former husband, Mike Wooten, fired as a state trooper. The report concluded Palin violated no law by firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

"Well, I'm very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there," Palin said.

Palin said the report cleared her of "any legal wrongdoing or any unethical activity at all."

ABC noted Sunday that the investigator concluded Palin knowingly permitted her husband, Todd Palin, to use her office to "contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired" and that her conduct violated Alaska ethics law.

ABC also noted that Palin told a reporter in Altoona, Pa., "there was no abuse of authority at all in trying to get Officer Wooten fired" -- even though the legislative report said that was the basis for concluding Palin abused her office.

A spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign Sunday told ABC the investigator "offers an opinion based on a very tortured reading of the Ethics Act."