Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler is out with a new analysis today, this one about “The Hunter Biden laptop and claims of ‘Russian disinfo.’” A Fact Checker analysis is really necessary right now, because apparently there’s quite a bit of disagreement out there about where the fault for the coverup ultimately lies. Is it with the media? Or with the political establishment?
Well, apparently the disagreement is between the media and political establishment. Go figure! Glenn Greenwald finds it absolutely fascinating.
The pre-election lie — and that's what it was — that the NY Post's reporting was based on "Russian disinformation" was first disseminated by @Politico and @NatashaBertrand, who was rewarded for her lying by being hired by CNN.
James Clapper now says they *deliberately* lied👇 pic.twitter.com/FUxcvelCP5
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
Oh, my!
It's amazing what's going on here.
Because of the House hearing investigating this, the political and media establishment can't ignore what they did any longer.
So now they're turning on each other, blaming one another for the disinformation campaign:https://t.co/ha4Ls5Wp9t
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
No, really. Check this out:
“No one who has spent time in Washington should be surprised that journalists and politicians willfully or unintentionally misconstrue oral or written statements,” said Thomas Fingar, a signer who had been the top intelligence official at the State Department, in an email. “The statement we signed was carefully written to minimize the likelihood that what was said would be misconstrued, and to provide a clear written record that could be used to identify and disprove distortions.”
Lotta CYA going on after the fact.
The CIA and other intelligence operative scumbags have a point here, one I've stressed from the start.
In their letter to manipulate the election, they said they didn't *know* it was Russian disinformation, just thought it was.
It was the media that transformed it into fact.👇 pic.twitter.com/5ebvezvGoD
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
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Transforming unconfirmed theories into fact is kinda the media’s thing. Though it’s important not to discount government officials’ knack for playing fast and loose with the truth.
After James Clapper, as Obama's DNI, got caught red-handed lying to the Senate about NSA domestic spying, CNN hired him.
Clapper is accusing CNN's @NatashaBertrand of having *deliberately* lied about his letter.
These media outlets have to confront what they did. pic.twitter.com/scJaVUzIzM
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
Right there you have the corrupt media and corrupt government officials teaming up. In case you were unclear as to how this stuff has a tendency to work.
Clapper himself was repeatedly put on CNN to spread the lie that the materials on the Biden laptop was "Russian disinformation."
But even for CNN: having one employee accuse a "reporter," Bertrand, of "deliberately" lying is something they can't ignore.https://t.co/kjLH42pbaf
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
It’s something they shouldn’t ignore … but expect them to ignore it anyway.
I don't care who is bored by it: 2 weeks before Americans went to vote for President, the CIA and others in the intelligence community concocted an outright lie that most major media corporations spread.
Everyone now knows it's a lie, but not one media outlet has retracted it. pic.twitter.com/y4aIeaVLPB
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
Glenn Kessler and the Washington Post don’t seem to be interested in taking any accountability for their own role in the media-government Hunter Biden laptop disinformation campaign. Here’s Kessler’s “Bottom Line”:
The letter does not clearly say the Hunter Biden laptop was a “Russian disinformation” program, notwithstanding the Politico headline. In fact, the letter mainly argues that Russia may have had a role in obtaining and disseminating Hunter Biden’s emails — which could mean as little as Russian bots spreading awareness on social media.
But it was to Joe Biden’s advantage to misleadingly embrace the message conveyed in the headline — just as, for political reasons, for Republicans to continue to make that claim as well.
Notice Kessler seems to have run out of space to ding the Washington Post for running with the false “Russian disinformation” narrative, just like Politico and countless other ostensibly respectable media outlets did. Well, them and folks like James Clapper.
Also, I don't recall Clapper mentioning at the time that the headlines were misstating the IC's conclusions. Why not?
— cactus2jack (@cactus2jack2) February 13, 2023
Very good point: if James Clapper knew Politico and Natasha Bertrand were lying about what their letter said, why didn't he say so then?
Reality: the CIA/IC people lying wanted the media to spread this. Only now that someone has to take the hit is Clapper saying Politico lied. pic.twitter.com/BXbkGqanNt
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 13, 2023
Just to be safe, we should probably go ahead and assume that everybody was lying to us.
So, were the liars at Politico lying, or was the lying James Clapper lying about Politico’s lying?
This is a Russian nesting doll of liars lying about each other lying about the Russians.
— Ken Braun (@BraunKen) February 13, 2023
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Related:
Glenn Greenwald will ‘never stop talking about’ the media’s Hunter Biden coverup
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