Indulge us in a flashback, if you will. It’s January 10, and Donald Trump’s impending inauguration already has driven liberal celebrities to lobby individual members of the Electoral College by name in search of just a few “heroes” who will flip their votes and save the country.
Suddenly, there are rumblings of something big breaking. According to CNN, it seems the Russians have material with which they can blackmail Trump. The New York Times’ Charles Blow asks how the nation can possibly go on with the inauguration until this is sorted out. Everyone agrees: this seems big … really big.
It wasn’t much later that we learned the blackmail material was the infamous Trump “dossier” with its salacious stories of Russian prostitutes. Not only that; journalists began to share how they’d all been shopped the same material but had to pass because it couldn’t be sourced or verified.
So this big news is literally just the same dump that was attempted via Mother Jones, etc., in October?
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 10, 2017
Apparently so.
Obviously they were shopping this all over town before election. Nobody but David Corn and Intel Chiefs bought it
— Euphonius Bugnuts (@EuphoniusNuts) January 11, 2017
The Washington Post:
Word of caution: Document(s) behind the Trump/Russia thing been circulating for a while. Yet to find anyone to substantiate allegations
— Devlin Barrett (@DevlinBarrett) January 10, 2017
The New York Times:
We chased Ritz-Carlton story in Sept. But we were skeptical about the golden showers bit, which seemed too icky for a germophobe like Trump.
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 10, 2017
Mother Jones:
1. For those asking, I didn't publish the full memos from the intelligence operative because I could not confirm the allegations.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 11, 2017
Trump allegations "have circulated for months, and acquired a kind of legendary status among journalists" https://t.co/7AbFvcO29N
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) January 10, 2017
So that bombshell turned out to be a dud pretty quickly, although BuzzFeed decided to be the media outlet to go ahead and “err on the side of publishing” the unverified dossier, in the name of transparency.
Fast forward to today. Yes, Trump was inaugurated, and sadly, the media is still working backward from the conclusion that Russia stole the election, searching for evidence to make it true.
In any case, U.K. court documents seem to confirm that, yes, Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm behind the dossier, shopped it around to journalists last fall.
Dem Oppo firm Fusion GPS (behind phony Trump dossier) was feeding "info" to NYT, WaPo, Yahoo, New Yorker, CNN.. https://t.co/A4bRuyqPui pic.twitter.com/6BvgVGcGT0
— Nick Short ?? (@PoliticalShort) July 22, 2017
And none of those outlets published the dossier & FBI wouldn't pay Steele $50k for it when he couldn't verify it's claims. Enter Buzzfeed.
— ZeroPointNow (@ZeroPointNow) July 22, 2017
Reads like a Who's-Who of organized, #FakeNews anti DJT…all complicit.
— Scott R.??? (@therealscooter6) July 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/888758020473315329
NYT, WaPo, Yahoo, New Yorker, CNN, Mother Jones. See page 8 from British court docs https://t.co/A4bRuyqPui https://t.co/SymMX1nAC6
— Nick Short ?? (@PoliticalShort) July 22, 2017
Fusion’s co-founder he insists he’s not talking, subpoena or no subpoena.
Fusion GPS chief and Trump dossier guy Glenn Simpson declines to testify before Senate, citing Long-Held Vacation Plans Privilege. pic.twitter.com/13WPm96zUJ
— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 21, 2017
Grassley, Feinstein issue subpoena for Fusion GPS chief, who refused to appear before Senate to answer questions on Trump dossier. pic.twitter.com/UO2I6Mf8aY
— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 21, 2017
Fusion GPS Co Founder Refuses to Testify, Vows to Plead the Fifth https://t.co/CEHq5jYZSQ
via @pjmedia_com— Debra Heine (@NiceDeb) July 23, 2017
Hey media, this story appears to be fully sourced and verified via court documents … don’t hesitate to run with it.
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Related:
Co-founder of Fusion GPS, firm behind infamous Trump dossier, won’t testify next week after all https://t.co/fmE0KBzb3i
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 13, 2017
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