White House goes authoritarian on CNN scoop about Russia dossier
Minutes ago, CNN announced on air a breaking-news story. U.S. investigators, said correspondent Jim Sciutto on Jake Tapper’s show “The Lead,” have corroborated “some of the communications detailed in a 35-page dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent.” Prior to this reporting, sources have insisted that details in that dossier, an explosive document that shook the news stream in January, were unverified. Now, according to reporting by Sciutto and colleague Evan Perez, “multiple current and former U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CNN that intelligence intercepts of foreign nationals confirm that some of the conversations described in the dossier took place between the same individuals on the same days and from the same locations as detailed in the dossier.” There’s no confirmation about the content of those communications, nor is there any confirmation of the more “salacious” allegations in the dossier.
So what did White House press secretary Sean Spicer say? “We continue to be disgusted by CNN’s fake news reporting.”
News about the dossier first emerged shortly before the election via David Corn of Mother Jones, who provided a sketch of the sort of information that it contained. There things sat through the election and deep into the transition period. In January, CNN reported that discussions of the dossier had bubbled all the way up to the presidential level — and that both Trump and then-President Obama had been told about its claims. The document itself originated as opposition research against Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Following CNN’s January scoop, BuzzFeed published the whole thing.
As it turned out, Spicer’s “fake news” comeback wasn’t the totality of his response over this story. Perez said on Tapper’s show that the press secretary subsequently sought another bite at the apple. “This is more fake news. It is about time CNN focused on the success the president has had bringing back jobs, protecting the nation and strengthening relationships with Japan and other nations. The president won the election because of his vision and message for the nation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/02/10/white-house-goes-authoritarian-on-cnn-scoop-about-russia-dossier/?tid=pm_opinions_pop&utm_term=.5afdd21de19f
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Each day, more and more Americans get it about the KGOP pissing on American democracy.
This latest stream of stinkum from the office of the republican draft-&-tax-dodger-in-chief is just scuzzing up the whole frikken mess even more.
Stop pissing on the facts, KGOP. Support America. Support reality. Support the truth.
