Posted on 12/14/2019 3:18:46 AM PST by Kaslin
Thanks to the Department of Justice Inspector General's report, we now know for certain what has been, for those paying attention, fairly obvious. The Steele dossier played a central role in the genesis of the Russia hoax and was used to justify extensive spying on former naval officer and Annapolis graduate Carter Page.
The top two leaders of the FBI were closely involved in this fiasco. Other powerful people knew what was happening and lied to cover it up. That all was confirmed by the IG report. The report was a disaster for the credibility of top leaders in Barack Obama's FBI, and it's also a big problem for the American news media.
For example, in early 2018, Washington Post intelligence and national security correspondent Shane Harris lectured Kim Strassel of The Wall Street Journal about how little she knows about the story.
"Yes," he wrote, "I am telling you the dossier was not used as the basis for a FISA warrant on Carter Page." That's false. And yet, Harris hasn't apologized or even acknowledged his incompetence.
Or take NBC News's so-called intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian. In the summer of 2018, he smugly tweeted, "Trump is wrong about Carter Page, the dossier and the FISA warrant." But it looks like Trump was right, and he was wrong.
CNN Newsroom anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto did admit the Steele dossier might have been used for the warrant. But don't be impressed. He lectured readers that "the FBI would corroborate information in the dossier on its own before using such intel to justify the FISA warrant." Of course, that didn't happen. In fact, the FBI hid information showing the dossier was false. Did Sciutto issue a correction? Of course not. But it does seem a little unfair to focus on Jim Sciutto. He was merely following the lead of almost everyone else at CNN, all of whom were frantically trying to convince us that the dossier was irrelevant:
Evan Perez, CNN senior justice correspondent: "You know, a lot of people will focus on the dossier, a lot of people will focus on a FISA, of Carter Page, and they'll say they were spying on a campaign. But at the beginning, this is all about what Russia was doing."
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN crime & justice correspondent: "Now Republicans were trying to claim that the dossier was key to getting the FISA, the surveillance warrant for Carter Page. But the Democrats memo clearly shows it wasn't key."
James Clapper, CNN national security analyst: "Even the earlier version of the redacted FISA authorization to me had enough information in it to indicate that the dossier was certainly not used as the primary source."
Everything you just read turned out to be wrong. Has CNN retracted the comments or apologized? That's a rhetorical question. Apologies require introspection and integrity. At CNN, they're doubling down. CNN's Don Lemon explained that, by definition, everything CNN reported was true:
Lemon: "So how is the White House and the Republican Party dealing with the articles of impeachment and an inspector general report that debunked conspiracy theories? Gaslighting. ... The FBI obtained proper warrants. You should read the report. Facts first. None of that is true. The report found that the launch of the Russia investigation was legally sound, unbiased and that no spying occurred."
In Lemon's world, facts are delicious. Mere opinion has no place. CNN's Chris Cuomo agrees.
CHRIS CUOMO: "'Trump is the victim.' All right, that was what was promised from this IG's report, 476 pages. No Trump as victim. Trump even says that that's what this says. It doesn't. He's lying to you about the report. Please, do yourself the favor, do the homework. He's lying to you."
Do the homework, demands Cuomo. Read the IG report! But you have to wonder if Cuomo himself read the report. Or did his assistant promise to read the report and give him a summary, but then got stuck in a super-long holiday season line at Starbuck's and forgot to do it? And then maybe, in a last-minute panic, which is understandable under the circumstances, told a few white lies to Chris about what the report says? We're not sure that's what happened of course, and we're not going to judge. We can surmise that, unless he's a pathological liar, Chris Cuomo didn't read the IG report himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sit in a TV studio, stare into the camera and pretend that the Justice Department's inspector general just confirmed what CNN has been telling you for three years. Because that is absolutely not what happened. Not even close.
A media that is totally willing to lie does not deserve First Amendment protections.
They are not a free media....they are an extension of the Democratic Party.
They lie about Trump and then lie about what crimes were committed by the Democrats in trying to get Trump.
They are treasonous, subversive and deserve more than just our contempt.
There is a reason Chris Cuomo did not sit for the bar.
apologize?
this was sedition and KNOWN fraud.
they should LOSE their license ... and hang.
Is there a damn thing in this “report” that was not in Bongino’s book two years ago? In Andrew McCarhty’s book last year?
They are indeed a extension of the demonrat party, and like them, they can not help but lie, because it comes natural to them.
Lemon pronounces , “Gaslighting.” Pure projection. It is his personal sin and he has become it.
This has been the case from the beginning of the Republic. Learn history people...
Okay, if the the debunked Steele dossier had nothing to do with the Russian collusion investigation, what was the whole thing based on?
The media should commit suicide.
The President should have been told about Russia possibly being intrusive. Instead...they tried to set up the President using their own spies.
Free press my Aunt Fanny.
How much of my cable/internet bill goes to fund big-government-loving corporations and their minions.
How much would my cable bill be if I only paid for the 3-4 channels I watch?
Who is this guy Chris Cuomo? You mean Fredo?
Just like the Leftists in the democrat party, the main stream media despise and hate Americans. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that apology, and wouldn’t accept it anyway.
That’s perfectly true. They’re free to opine as the wish. But they are refusing to even acknowledge the facts that are supposedly the basis for their opinions and are making statements, believed by their readers, that are directly contradicted by the facts.
So they can say and think what they want, but they should present it as opinion and not delude their followers by blithely ignoring the facts.
“It looks to me that many people on FR do not understand that the press, being free, is free to take sides as it wishes.“
Oh, we understand the press alright. The press hates America and Hates We the People.
Well we may know some of the details but we do not know who green flagged this spying. That is what we need to know.
If anyone thinks that Struck, Page and Steele just decided to smear PDJT because they just did not like him, they need to have their heads examined.
I believe this goes to the highest office in the land and it needs to come out.
Yup
The press is a nearly a wholly-owned entity of foreign corporations. They are essentially saboteurs now, in suits and skirts, speaking English well. Their paymasters tell them what to do and say, if they want to stay employed. If you go to the top level of any of the big media corporations, you’ll see the global corporations like GE.
It’s like Feinstein, D-Beijing. Maybe she speaks some Mandarin, or maybe not. But she may as well.
Or you could look at the actual owner of the patents on electric cars of a few decades ago-Texaco. We shouldn’t wonder why all of those cars were found and crushed.
Most of us know this, but I’m trying to train my brain to recognize any presstitute as someone who might as well wear a kaftan or turban, or maybe a sarong, have dark hair and eyes, and have a different shape of face.
I was down to watching three channels, my wife just a couple. We cut the cable three years ago now. We can stream just about anything we really like. And we read many more books instead of clicking through 125 options just to settle on something we don't really care about or that doesn't provide any enjoyment but just kills time.
So cut the cable. As our President says: "What have you got to lose?"
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