We’re not a fan of “explainers,” which is what Vox was founded on — not quite news, not quite opinion, but a journalist explaining something the rest of us just don’t understand. The New York Times Charlie Savage has a new explainer out now that the Steele dossier has been revealed to have been garbage. Sure, the Steele dossier was “unworthy of the attention it received,” but it was also a distraction from the real Russia investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia to swing the 2016 election. And it wasn’t just a distraction, but a tangential distraction, barely touching upon the real investigation.
New explainer: It’s become clear that the Steele Dossier was unreliable & unworthy of the attention it received. But it was also a largely tangential distraction from the actual Russia investigation, despite misleading attempts to conflate them. https://t.co/iowj7izfYK
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) December 1, 2021
Is "misleading attempts" a reference to Adam Schiff reading the dossier into the congressional record and tons of journalists hyping the dossier as the smoking gun of collusion early in the presidency? https://t.co/Gwg284ixO1
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) December 1, 2021
Even moreso, it's clear some of the dossier's biggest peddlers aren't just trying to downplay the role it played in their own "reporting" but pretend that ONLY the dossier aspect of the Russia collusion hoax was problematic. Give it up, hoaxers. Your credibility: gone. https://t.co/aUqoVujyN9
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 1, 2021
But the dossier DOES prove that the Hillary Clinton campaign was the one colluding with Russians to make excuses for her loss and to undermine the new Trump presidency.
— Gordon Gartrell (@GordonGartrell9) December 1, 2021
Rachel? Any comment? pic.twitter.com/b4RlL2XvUC
— Conservative Candor (@RepublicanGold) December 1, 2021
Totally tangential.
— DDeardorff (@USADeardorff) December 1, 2021
— Lets Go Brandon in Texas (@Twatter_Censors) December 1, 2021
Did someone completely change the definition of 'tangential,' or does the NYT moron not know what it means?
Steele Dossier was Ground Zero for all things Russia, man.— The Anti-Woke Dude (@TheAntiWokeDude) December 1, 2021
The Steele Dossier wasn’t tangential to the Trump-Russia investigation — it was a central & essential part of it. https://t.co/9yqO7G7mat
— Jerry Christmas 🎄🎅🏽 (@JerryDunleavy) December 1, 2021
The FBI used the dossier to obtain FISA warrants to illegally spy on Carter Page. That’s not “tangential.”
This you? https://t.co/uadjYgBWRk pic.twitter.com/b6me5STD2J
— Svetlana Lokhova (@RealSLokhova) December 1, 2021
Looks like the IC's marching orders to stenographers is to push the narrative that Steele was irrelevant.
That of course is a total lie. Steele was the *only* one who alleged collusion. Without Steele there would have been no Crossfire Hurricane, no FISA, no ICA and no Mueller. https://t.co/H6jYMvMMQe
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) December 1, 2021
Thought experiment. If the Steele dossier never existed, what would have happened from July 2016 onward? Crossfire Hurricane likely fizzles out. No Comey briefing to Trump, and none of the events that followed from that. No Mueller. https://t.co/Gwg284ixO1
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) December 1, 2021
Amazing to claim it is “misleading” to “conflate” Steele Dossier with Russia investigation when dossier was biggest force behind idea of collusion, was used to obtain FISAs, & was pushed by FBI to be part of IC Assessment on Russian meddling (& ended up in the classified annex)! https://t.co/9yqO7G7mat
— Jerry Christmas 🎄🎅🏽 (@JerryDunleavy) December 1, 2021
You wouldn’t believe the number of people in Savage’s replies clinging to the idea that nothing in the dossier has ever been disproved — and also that everyone knew it was “raw intelligence” and therefore wasn’t reliable.
Dude.
Just stop. https://t.co/krLTkPtYye— Cardinal Curmudgeon (@Gimblin) December 1, 2021
You were doing great until the but. https://t.co/r9M3P3arzL
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 1, 2021
Delusional, desperately clinging to the hoax for all you’re worth https://t.co/U77YNqrdEN
— Unfettered Conversation-haver for real! (@JMU2012) December 1, 2021
The Steele Dossier was a conspiracy theory, and thus a distraction from this other, better, for sure really real this time, conspiracy theory https://t.co/8kulny2yoz
— an irritating little gremlin (@cbarrett) December 1, 2021
Charlie Salvage to the rescue
— Humanized Mouse (@jamis_dempsey) December 1, 2021
As an attempt at figleafing your incompetence and Deep State surrogacy…not your best work…
— Nibras Kazimi (@ImaraWaTijara) December 1, 2021
This you?https://t.co/ImAfTQ8UKq
— 𝐓𝐇E𝐄.R𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝙲𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒s𝚝 (@biksyvix) December 1, 2021
Why do you post fake news?
— TopKek (@thechicagopilot) December 1, 2021
Lots of desperate fucking people here trying to justify what ACTUALLY happened that’s becoming more and more obvious every day. Y’all just can’t say – yeah, we knew it was all bullshit, we knew it, and we got the levers of power to be used to remove a duly elected President. 🤔
— The Harbinger 🇺🇸⛪️ (@JamesTScorpio1) December 1, 2021
It’s big of Savage to admit that the dossier was unworthy of the attention it received. But whose fault was that?
Related:
'They all went along with it': Glenn Greenwald explains why he truly believes that a 'reckoning' for the media over the Steele dossier will never happen https://t.co/RRmazGyTOv
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 19, 2021
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