Holding his first press conference as President-elect, 70-year-old Donald Trump blasted BuzzFeed and CNN for reporting on a dubious addendum to the recent intel report, suggesting that Russian intelligence services had damaging information about the New York real estate tycoon. “I think it was disgraceful., disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. I think it’s a disgrace and I say that . . . that’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do,” said Trump. CNN reported Jan. 10 Breaking News that a former MI6 agent compiled an un-sourced report indicating that Russian intel agencies had damaging information about the President-elect. Whatever was contained in intel addendum, it had been reported by Mother Jones David Corn in October 2016, another one of the many October surprises to hurt Trump before Nov. 8.
Passed to the FBI by Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), the addendum to the intel report accused Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen of meeting with Russian officials August 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic. Cohen confirmed today he’s never been to Prague, casting doubt over the entire report. McCain, one of Trump’s biggest detractors, happily passed Corn’s bogus story to the FBI. Using Corn’s report, Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Trump Oct. 19 at the last debate of being a “Putin puppet.” Asked whether or not he believed Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and Hillary campaign emails, Trump acknowledged Russian hacking but added that many other countries hacked U.S. agencies and businesses. “I think it was Russia,” said Trump but cautioned the press not to leap to any conclusions.
Refusing to take a question at today’s press conference from Jim Accosta, CNN has a real problem on its hands regaining any credibility with the soon-to-be president. Throughout the 2016 campaign, CNN broadcasted some of the most anti-Trump reporting in cable or network news business. Even during Election Night, CNN refused to call the race for Trump even after winning Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Only after Hillary conceded, did CNN acknowledge Trump’s victory, well after other networks had made the call. Unwilling to face its anti-Trump bias, it decided to run with its Breaking News story about built off of Corn’s unsubstantiated allegations, based on paid-for opposition research. Without an apology by CNN, it’s doubtful the Atlanta-based cable news station will get must access to Trump after he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.
When you consider U.S. intelligence agencies used opposition research paid for by either the Clinton campaign or Trump’s GOP rivals, it harks back to the dark days before the Iraq War. Former President George W. Bush used dubious intel from German intelligence by code-named “Curveball,” the brother-in-law of Iraq exile Ahmed Chalabi, a former CIA operative who swindled the U.S. of millions. Curveball supplied former Vice President Dick Cheney and his Neocon friends at the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans with phony intel on Saddam Hussein’s alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Once again, U.S. intel agencies relied on unverified stories about Trump’s alleged ties to the Russian government. Relying on opposition research, largely fabricated to damage a candidate’s credibility, shows how today’s intel community has been politicized.
Trump’s detractors, especially the “Never Trump” crowd led by Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), want to sabotage his attempts to reset U.S.-Russian relations. Interviewed today by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Trump’s Secretary of State nominee former Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson was hammered by another Trump detractor, former 2016 GOP candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.). Rubio asked Tillerson if he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was a war criminal for his military action in Aleppo. Tillerson didn’t answer the question but emphasized the importance of improving relations with Russia. If McCain, Graham or Rubio had their way, the U.S. would be shooting down Russian warplanes in Aleppo, starting WWIII. Rubio expected Tillerson to see the world from his sophomoric ideological prism.
Trump’s first news conference showed the kind of take-charge attitude most expected from the President-elect. He had no problem fielding the press’s questions, especially about CNN’s yellow journalism, continuing to show the cable network’s prejudice against Trump. CNN’s Jim Acosta practically had to be restrained when he kept interrupting Trump to get his question asked. Relying on opposition research performed by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele, U.S. intel agencies harmed their credibility. Calling the intel addendum a “blot” on the intel community, Trump served notice that he won’t be intimidated by “fake news.” Accusing Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen of meeting with Russian agents in Prague sounds similar to Cheney insisting in 2002 Iraqi agents met with Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta in Prague before flying jets into the World Trade Center.
