The Washington Post corrects, removes parts of two stories regarding the Steele dossier

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Style

The Washington Post corrects, removes parts of two stories regarding the Steele dossier

By Paul Farhi
Today at 12:28 p.m. EST

The Washington Post on Friday took the unusual step of correcting and removing large portions of two articles, published in March 2017 and February 2019, that had identified a Belarusian American businessman as a key source of the “Steele dossier,” a collection of largely unverified reports that claimed the Russian government had compromising information about then-candidate Donald Trump.

The newspaper’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, said The Post could no longer stand by the accuracy of those elements of the story. It had identified businessman Sergei Millian as “Source D,” the unnamed figure who passed on the most salacious allegation in the dossier to its principal author, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

The story’s headline was amended, sections identifying Millian as the source were removed, and an accompanying video summarizing the article was eliminated. An editor’s note explaining the changes was added. Other stories that made the same assertion were corrected as well.

Source D, according to the dossier, alleged that Russian intelligence had learned that Trump had hired Russian prostitutes to defile a Moscow hotel room once occupied by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and possessed a video recording of the incident.

The allegation, which the dossier said was confirmed by a second person described only as “Source E,” has never been substantiated.

{snip}

By Paul Farhi
Paul Farhi is The Washington Post's media reporter. He started at The Post in 1988 and has been a financial reporter, a political reporter and a Style reporter. Twitter https://twitter.com/farhip

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/media-washington-post-steele-dossier/2021/11/12/f7c9b770-43d5-11ec-a88e-2aa4632af69b_story.html

[doc03]

1. Wasn't the Steel Dossier originally started by Republicans

searching for dirt on Trump? But now it is always reported that it was the Clinton campaign.

[LymphocyteLover]

3. Yes-- through the consulting firm Fusion GPS

[Ford_Prefect]

2. The real story is that Prosecutor Durham is indicting people in a step by step self-fulfilling

investigation into which Democrats involved with the Clinton campaign engineered the sources and the content of the Steele Report. The purpose of Durham's investigation is to demonstrate that the Mueller investigation was based on a set of lies told through the Steele Report, and thus a political hit job. One must ask how much direction and assistance Durham has received from Putin's trolls.

The Post’s reassessment follows the indictment on Nov. 4 of Igor Danchenko, a Russian American analyst and researcher who helped Steele compile the dossier. Danchenko was arrested as part of an investigation conducted by attorney John Durham, the special counsel appointed by Trump’s attorney general William P. Barr to probe the origins and handling of the FBI’s inquiry into Trump’s alleged Russian connections.

Danchenko was indicted on charges that he repeatedly lied to the FBI about where and how he got information that he allegedly gave to Steele for the dossier. He pleaded not guilty in federal court this week. His attorney, Mark Schamel, said in a statement: “For the past five years, those with an agenda have sought to expose Mr. Danchenko’s identity and tarnish his reputation while undermining U.S. National Security. This latest injustice will not stand.”

[LymphocyteLover]

4. Yes, the Durham investigaiton is deeply biased and suspect and also dangerous as the rightwing

is now using it as an excuse to vindicate Trump from the whole Russia collusion scandal. Totally aggravating. Sadly the WaPo is supporting that narrative here.

Rachel Maddow and Seth Abramson have discussed the problems with Durham though most of the MSM seems to be ignoring it.

Abramson wrote a long post on it here (Subscription for the bulk of it but the intro is worth a read)

https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/the-durham-indictment-of-igor-danchenko

I have access to the whole thing if anyone is interested in reading his LONG dissection of the Dencanko indictment.

[machoneman]

5. Hey, Durham himself could be charged and indicted if he's overreaching...and he is!

[LymphocyteLover]

9. That's a nice thought-- but how egregious would his investigation have to be for that?

[Ford_Prefect]

6. As much as Trump is trying to erase inconvenient truth for his own ego, I suspect Durham is being

steered by remote from Moscow.

Putin has a long history of discrediting or disappearing his critics. He is like Trump, just one more mob boss who can't stand anyone telling the truth on him.

[LymphocyteLover]

8. good point... I would not be surprised

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. I strongly prefer the Washington Post over the TFG supporting NYT

The NYT has never admitted that their crappy Hillary email story was wrong

[dalton99a]

10. And they still have not acknowledged their role in Iraq - or Whitewater

[cadoman]

11. does not change the substance of the story

Hillary won. Trump colluded. DoJ failed to prosecute. Durham is running cover. Facts are facts and all the Post is doing here is bringing us a better version of the facts that show orange man is a traitor.

This story was covered in depth for over a year by our top journalists. There were multiple awards for their excellent work on the subject. Do NOT allow the Putin puppet Durham to unroll all that.

Frankly, we probably should not even be discussing the alleged "corrections", which are fucking paywalled anyway.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. I compliment you on your clairvoyance.

does not change the substance of the story

Your ability to know that the Post's correction of its earlier articles does not matter, despite your inability to read the correction because of the Post's paywall, is quite the remarkable gift.

For people who lack your superpower and want to get around the paywall to read the article anyway, there is hope.

Because the Washington Post, like the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal., is a national newspaper, it is almost certainly available on your public library's database. As in, available for free, with no paywall.

Log into your account at the library and find the database of newspapers. The Post will be there. YMMV, so ask your librarian for help if you need it.

Frankly, we probably should not even be discussing the alleged "corrections",

Now people can judge for themselves whether we should be discussing this.