Devin Nunes is a ‘Russian agent’ & other ways media peddle ‘Russiagate’ fables
RT,
2
February, 2018
Just
when you think fake news about Russia could not get any more bizarre,
mainstream media outshines itself, again. These days, no story about
Russia is too wild to print.
Here
are just a few of the many Russia conspiracy stories now littering
the landscape ever since fictional tales of the ‘Russian bogeyman’
seized the American imagination. Since it has become practically an
article of faith among so many media pundits that President Donald
Trump is a Kremlin puppet, it would not be amiss to suggest the same
about other high-ranking Republicans.
So,
was anybody really surprised when MSNBC ‘analyst’ John Heilemann
suggested that Republican congressman Devin Nunes, who serves as
Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has been “compromised
by the Russians?”
In
an interview with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, Heilemann ventured
so far into the realms of conspiracy theory folklore that he was
forced to concede his question was “ridiculous and
absurd.” But he went ahead anyway
“Is
it possible that the Republican chairman of the House Intel Committee
has been compromised by the Russians?”Heilemann
asked with a straight face. “Is it possible that we actually have a
Russian agent running the House Intel Committee on the Republican
side?”
The
question appeared to have stumped Murphy; as he stumbled and
stammered during his response. “I-I-I-I-I-hope that’s not
the case and I certainly have no information to suggest that it
is,” he said. Heilemann, however, was having none of it,
referring to unnamed “people in the intelligence
community” who purportedly think exactly as Heilemann does.
“Doesn’t
his behavior speak of that though,” the
'analyst' pressed on, no longer concerned that his question was
patently absurd.
“I’m
not the first person who’s raised this. He’s behaving like
someone who’s compromised and there are people in the intelligence
community and others with great expertise in this area who look at
him and say, ‘That guy’s been compromised.’”
Murphy
would only say there are Republicans who “instinctively
act in a way to protect their president.” Whatever
that means. Later, Heilemann presented the very same question in
exactly the same fashion to another Democratic congressman, Eric
Swalwell, with the same result.
Non-news on Nunes continues…
©
Nicholas Kamm / AFP
However,
the Heilemann episode was just one media fiasco that the under-fire
Nunes would be forced to endure. This week, the Daily Beast wrote a
story about the now-infamous memo man, entitled: “Did
Devin Nunes Work With White House on Anti-FBI Memo? ‘Far as I Know,
No.’”
The
story opens with the assertion that the House Intelligence Committee
Chair “refused
to answer behind closed doors if he coordinated with the president’s
team on his report blasting Rosenstein, Comey, and McCabe.”
The
article said that Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democrat, asked Nunes if he
had communicated with the White House when crafting the memo. “Nunes
made a few comments that didn’t answer the question before finally
responding, ‘I’m not answering,’” the
Daily Beast reported, citing anonymous sources.
Once
again, there’s just one problem with that version of events. The
quote attributed to Nunes by the Daily Beast – “I’m
not answering” –
appears nowhere in the exchange according to a transcript of the
meeting released later. A review of the record makes clear that Nunes
answered the question before returning to committee business and
allowing other members to speak about the pending business or make
additional motions.
The
Federalist summarized
the glaringly fake news by saying:“Once
again, reporters got burned by believing anonymous Democrats on the
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.”
Now
if the mainstream media is so ready to pass off false news on a
high-ranking US official, what chance does Russia has in getting a
fair go? The odds, little to none.
Flimsy Flynn allegations
©
Brendan Smialowski / AFP
It
is a notable rarity these days that Western mainstream media will
suffer any consequences for breaking the rules of journalism and
circulating unsubstantiated news, especially when it comes to Russia.
That is precisely what made the massive fallout from a recent ABC
News nothing burger story about Russia so, well, delicious.
On
December 1, ABC News ace investigative reporter Brian Ross stated
that an anonymous source had confided that a close associate of
retired general Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump's National
Security Advisor, was ready to testify that the US president
had “directed
him to make contact with the Russians”during
the 2016 presidential campaign.
The
news reverberated around the world like a thunderbolt, even helping
to knock 350 points off of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Ross
later corrected the report on ABC News’ 'World News Tonight,'
clarifying that the source who had provided the information was
mistaken, and that Trump was actually president-elect at the time he
asked Flynn to contact Russia.
But
the damage was already done.
Then White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said ABC “news” owes it viewers an apology. Calling false reporting a “clarification” is a cop out and just another reason for the decline in trust in the the media.
.@ABC “news” owes it viewers an apology. Calling false reporting a “clarification” is a cop out and just another reason for the decline in trust of the media
Ross
was slapped with a four-week suspension without pay. In other words,
a little vacation.
Sweet
but not quite 17
Anyone who watched the US presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Trump is familiar with the claim that all 17 US intelligence agencies agreed that Russia was behind the hack of Democratic emails in an effort to influence the 2016 election in favor of Republican candidate Trump.
Then White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said ABC “news” owes it viewers an apology. Calling false reporting a “clarification” is a cop out and just another reason for the decline in trust in the the media
.
Once
again, the media fudged its facts, this time committing a rather
unforgivable arithmetic error.
As
The New York Times was forced to admit in a correction, dated June
29, 2017: “The assessment was made by four intelligence agencies —
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central
Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
National Security Agency. The assessment was not approved by all 17
organizations in the American intelligence community.”
It bears repeating, though, that at least one of those organizations – the FBI – reportedly features prominently in the promised memo to be released by Nunes sometime this week. Whether that document will provide evidence to suggest some level of collusion against Trump – and, by extension, Russia – remains to be seen.
WashPo worried in can’t find Russian hackers… in Germany
And
as if to provide the world with assurances that the American media is
seemingly going back to its fledgling stages of development, the
Washington Post, in September, ran a story on the eve of German
elections that worriedly wondered: “Where are the Russians?”
So,
as Germans were preparing to head to the polls, the Washington Post,
not willing to let the fairytale be easily forgotten, appeared very
concerned about the whereabouts of the 'Russian hackers.'
“Have
Germany’s defensive measures… actually succeeded,” the
preeminent promulgator of pulp fiction asked. “Or has Russia
decided to pull back, reckoning that the costs of antagonizing Merkel
outweigh the benefits?”
The
one theory the newspaper failed to consider is that Russia just might
be telling the truth when it says it did not meddle in the US
election, or any other democratic process for that matter. But that
would mean many politicians being forced to face the prospect that
they are just not as popular with their people as they would like to
believe they are.
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