Circulating in the mainstream press, new reports from McCatchy newspapers indicate that President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen was spotted by cell phone tower evidence near Prague, Czech Republic in late summer of 2016. Faced with three years of jail time for tax evasion, bank fraud and money laundering Dec. 12, Cohen tweeted about the latest smoke blowing. “I hear #Prague#CzechRepublic is beautiful in the summertime,” Cohen tweeted. “I wouldn’t know as I have never been,” refuting new reports tying him to Russian officials in Prague. Only one problem, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Isikoff found Dec. 18 that no part of the Steele dossier has been corroborated. Citing the Steele dossier now shows the desperation of the mainstream press to concoct anything to convict Trump of collusion in public court.
Trump’s maintained since Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed May 17, 2017 by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, that the Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion investigation was a “political witch hunt.” Isikoff’s no friend of Trump yet had the integrity to tell the truth that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research AKA ‘the dossier” was not verified. When newspapers, like McClatchy, file stories based on uncorroborated allegations in the dossier, it speaks volumes about the press. “#Mueller knows everything,” tweeted Cohen, knowing that the Prague claim is another unverified allegation in Hillary’s opposition research. McClatchy reported that Cohen’s cell phone records show he was near Prague in late summer of 2016. McClatchy cites “sources” but hasn’t presented any of Cohen’s cell phone records as evidence.
McClatchy can’t present the cell phone evidence because there isn’t any. As Cohen said, Mueller knows everything. If cell phone evidence existed, Mueller would have presented it to the D.C. grand jury responsible for the Special Counsel’s indictments of former Trump campaign officials. When news of Cohen’s sentencing surfaced Dec. 12, the same media that claims cell phone evidence tying Cohen’s to Prague, said Cohen was convicted of lying about working on a Trump Tower Moscow deal for months after saying he stopped working on the project. Not one media outlet reported that Cohen’s sentence was based on income tax evasion, money laundering, bank and wire fraud, illegal sale of NYC taxi medallions, etc., reported only on the Trump Tower project. If there’s anything certain in the Mueller investigation, it’s the media often jumps to conclusions about Trump’s Russian collusion..
Steele’s dossier paid by Hillary and the Democratic National Committee [DNC] to discredit Trump said the Cohen visited Prague in late summer 2016 to meet with Russian officials, who released, through WikiLeaks, damaging emails against Hillary’s former Campaign Chairman John Podesta and the DNC. If there were any truth to the Steele dossier, Isikoff would have said which parts of it were true. Isikoff said instead that all substantial parts of the Steele dossier were uncorroborated, could not be proven. Yet McClatchy thinks nothing of citing as evidence hearsay or second-hand reports about cell phone tower data. “The brief activation from Cohen’s phone near Prague sent beacons that left a traceable electronic signature,” said McClatchy, offering no proof of the cell phone records. McClatchy also claims that eavesdropping by an Eastern European source picked up Cohen’s phone calls.
McClatchy offers no evidence or proof only “take my word for it,” when it comes to its evidence against Cohen. “During the same period of late August or early September [2016], electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up a conversation among Russians, one of whom remarked that Cohen was in Prague,” McClatchy cited two unnamed people familiar with the incident. If that’s not the definition of fake news then what is? Citing unnamed sources making outrageous claims to back up the Steele dossier that’s been discredited by Pulitzer Award-winning Isikoff tells everything you need to know about the Mueller Russian probe. “The new information regarding the recovery of Cohen’s cell phone location doesn’t explain why he was apparently there or who he was meeting with, if anyone,” said McClatchy, in a sort of half-hearted disclaimer.
When the mainstream press reports pure conjecture, without any evidence or proof, it shows the current desperation to find a smoking gun when it comes to Trump’s alleged collusion with Moscow. “But it adds to evidence that Cohen was in or near Prague around the time of the supposed meeting, “ McClatchy said, completely discrediting itself as a reliable news source. McClatchy can’t have it both ways: Saying there’s cell phone evidence but offering zero proof of it other than citing unnamed sources. If there’s any reason to shut down the Muller investigation, it’s this kind of shoddy journalism coming out of McClatchy and other sources. If there’s no cell phone records to prove Cohen’s presence in Prague, how can McClatchy expect anyone to believe its reports? Unless Cohen’s cell phone records are released proving his presence in Prague, it’s all just wild speculation.
