Once 71-year-old Donald Trump beat former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Nov. 8, 2016, the U.S. press declared war on Trump. With the press backing Hillary nearly 100%, Trump’s victory was an insufferable blow to the media’s credibility, with the Electoral College giving Trump the win. Trump’s victory was a punishing blow to the American press that staked its prestige on Hillary’s victory. Since the election, Trump’s press coverage has been over 90% negative, according to a May 17, 2017 Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Shorenstein Center study. Now the press put all its credibility into specious reports that Trump colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly year-long investigation hasn’t validated the press’s narrative that Trump’s Russian collusion won him the 2016 election.
Indicting 13 Russian businessmen and three firms for meddling in the 2016 election Friday, Feb. 16, Mueller validated the National Security Agency’s Jan. 17, 2017 report that Russian tried to influence the 2016 vote. Former President Barack Obama slapped Russia with sanctions Dec. 30, 2016, evicting 35 Russian diplomats from Washington and other U.S. cities. Former National Security Director James Clapper delivered the report only three days before Trump’s inauguration. “I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!” Trump tweeted today, causing the press to lash out. “Russia’s cyberactivities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in U.S. democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the U.S. governments,” said in a statement Dec. 30, 2016.
When you consider the hyperbole of Clapper’s report, it makes you wonder if he was trying to cover up the FBI and intel community’s unprecedented role of spying on Trump campaign officials. Former FBI Director James Comey refused to answer whether he went to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] Court to obtain warrants to wiretap Trump’s associates. Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice admitted in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that she did seek FISA Court wiretaps on Trump campaign officials. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced today they’d seek if needed subpoenas from the FBI and National Security Agency to determine the Obama administration’s role in wiretapping Trump campaign officials. No one in the U.S. press wants to report on Grassley’s inquiry.
Once Trump won the GOP nomination May 26, 2016, the Hillary campaign tapped the Obama White House to help discredit Trump’s candidacy. It didn’t take long for Hillary campaign to concoct with the help of Fusion GPS the so-called “dossier” on Trump, put together by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele. While it looks like Steele told Fusion GPS he’d comb through his Kremlin contacts, it’s now come out that Hillary operatives, most likely Sidney Blumenthal or former Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta, actually gave Steele the dirt that wound up in the “dossier.” Either Blumental or Podesta handed the dossier to Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) sometime in July 2016, who, in turn, gave in Comey. No one in the mainstream press reports on the dossier’s chain-of-command, eventually used by the FBI and Justice Department to justify seeking warrants in the FISA Court.
Much to the press’s ire, Trump pointed out that Obama told the media that no one could take Russian influence in the U.S. election process seriously. “There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America’s election,” Obama said in Oct. 2016, rejecting Trump’s claims that Hillary rigged the election. But, in addition to that, Obama felt inclined to expel 35 Russian diplomats for alleged election meddling. No one denies that Russian trolls tried to influence U.S. public opinion by placing phony stories in Facebook and other U.S. social networking sites. There’s been consensus among U.S. intel agencies that influence-peddling took place, culminating in Mueller’s 13 indictments of Russian businessmen and three St. Petersburg firms. No one at the Special Counsel’s office or intel agencies agreeing with the indictments say whether the Russian spy work had any impact.
Trump’s problem with accepting Russian meddling in the 2016 election revolves around the FBI and Obama White House’s involvement in spying on his campaign to give Hillary an unfair advantage in the 2016 race. Fingering Trump or his associates with Russian collusion was part of Hillary’s campaign strategy to discredit Trump. Announcing the 13 indictments, Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein said no one on Trump’s team knowingly colluded with the Kremlin. Democrats, led by House Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Califl.), insist there’s ample evidence of Trump’s Russian collusion. Keeping the Russian collusion story going is Democrats’ best shot at winning back the House and Senate in November. When you look at how Obama’s Justice Department and FBI worked to sabotage Trump’s campaign, it’s no wonder Trump’s skeptical of Russian meddling.
