Story highlights Pence is basing his claim on an August Associated Press story

The AP's analysis only accounts for a fraction of Clinton's meetings

Washington (CNN) Mike Pence highlighted at Tuesday's presidential debate what he considered evidence that donors to the Clinton Foundation had outsized influence in Hillary Clinton's State Department.

"We found, thanks to the good work of The Associated Press, that more than half her private meetings when she was secretary of state were given to major donors of the Clinton Foundation," Pence said.

Close -- but no cigar.

Pence is basing his claim on an August AP story that some media watchers have roundly criticized as somewhat misleading. The story said that 85 of 154 private citizens whom Clinton met or had scheduled telephone calls with during her tenure as secretary of state had donated to the Clinton Foundation or "pledged commitments to its international programs," either personally or through groups or companies.

But the story did not say they were all "major donors," as Pence claimed, though many clearly were.

Read More