Has CNN Become a Rogue Media Outlet whose Only Goal Is to Destroy Donald Trump?

If you like to bet on politics, one of the surer bets would be that those who take on a US President lose. Another sure bet would be that whenever the First Amendment right to free speech seems to be being squeezed to limit press freedom, there will be vociferous defense by the media. But, citizens have the final decision. • • • OBAMA INTELLIGENCE CHIEF APOLOGIZES TO TRUMP. Newsmax has reported that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper late Wednesday expressed "profound dismay" to Donald Trump over the leak of a dossier of unsubstantiated negative information on the President-Elect's ties to Russia. Clapper said he assured Trump in a telephone conversation that the two-page summary was "not a US intelligence community product and that I do not believe the leaks came from within the intelligence community." Clapper said in a statement : "This evening, had the opportunity to speak with President-Elect Donald Trump to discuss recent media reports about our briefing last Friday. I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security. We also discussed the private security company document, which was widely circulated in recent months among the media, members of Congress and congressional staff even before the intelligence community became aware of it. I emphasized that this document is not a US Intelligence Community product and that I do not believe the leaks came from within the intelligence community." Clapper said that he told Trump that intelligence officials have "not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions. Clapper added : "However, part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security." Clapper concluded his statement by saying that "President-Elect Trump again affirmed his appreciation for all the men and women serving in the intelligence community. assured him that the intelligence community stands ready to serve his administration and the American people." • TRUMP TOOK THE STORY LIVE IN HIS NEWS CONFERENCE. The two-page summary that has caused a near-meltdown at CNN and in the rest of the mainstream media was prepared by a former British intelligence officer, who alleged that Trump campaign officials worked with members of President Vladimir Putin's government. The document also claimed that Moscow had negative evidence of the President-Elect's behavior in Russia and financial information that could be used for possible blackmail. The classified dossier was included as an addendum to a report on Moscow's hacking activities during the November election that was presented to Obama on Thursday and to Trump on Friday US intelligence officers. President Obama had ordered the report. The findings were declassified after Trump's briefing session. • President-Elect Trump slammed news reports about the allegations at a news conference on Wednesday : "It's a disgrace that information would be let out. It's all fake news. It's phony stuff....Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?" • • • NEW FACTS KEEP EMERGING. A former British intelligence officer now working for a private investigative firm in London prepared the unsubstantiated allegations about President-Elect Donald Trump's connections to Russia, according to news reports summarized by Newsmax. Christopher Steele, 52, a director of Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., prepared the summary, the Wall Street Journal reports. Steele's partner is Christopher Burrows, 58. The company was founded in 2009 by former British intelligence agents, according to its website, and its staffers draw on "extensive experience at boardroom level in government, multilateral diplomacy and international business to develop bespoke solutions for clients." • The Steele two-page synopsis alleged that Trump campaign officials worked with members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government. Burrows was reached by the WSJ at his home outside London on Wednesday. He said that he would not "confirm or deny" that Orbis had produced the report. Recently, however, Steele has declined repeated requests for interviews through an intermediary, who said the subject was "too hot," according to the WSJ. The classified file was included as an addendum to a report on Russian hacking during the November election that was presented to Trump last week by top US intelligence officers. According to the WSJ, a LinkedIn profile in Steele's name lists no specifics about his career -- but a Burrows profile says that he was a counselor in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He also served in Brussels and New Delhi in the 2000s. The Foreign Office declined to comment. But, said the WSJ, intelligence officers often use diplomatic assignments as cover for their spying activities, according to the Journal. • • • SENATE MINORITY LEADER SCHUMER TAKES OVER THE HARRY REID AGITATOR ROLE. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told MSNBC last week that the US intelligence agencies could "get back" at President-Elect Donald Trump for his criticism of their probe into Russian involvement in the hacking of Democratic Party officials : "You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he's being really dumb to do this." Schumer added : "From what I am told, they are very upset with how he has treated them and talked about them." • • • MIKE MORRELL AGAIN HELPS OUT CNN AND THE PROGRESSIVES. After helping Hillary Clinton with her congressional testimony and testifying to support her version of the Benghazi attacks, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell on Wednesday expressed surprise that the nation's intelligence agencies would give information that has not been verified to President-Elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama. Morrell told CNN's Christiane Amanpour : "I was a bit surprised that our intelligence community would take a private document and summarize it for the president and President-Elect if they didn't know anything about the credibility of the information in it. That would be, quite frankly, unprecedented -- to take a private document, right -- you'd be doing that every day, if that's the way you were operating. "f there was some reason why they thought some part of it or certain aspects of it were credible, that they had actually done some work, then it might make sense to bring it to his attention." But, he added, "We just don't know which one it is right now." • Was Morrell helping CNN or the CIA this time? CNN reported on Tuesday that top intelligence officials briefed both Trump and Obama last week on a series of memos that claim Russia had compromising personal and business information on Trump that it could use against him. The contents of the document reportedly compiled by a former British intelligence agent who was working on opposition research on Trump during the GOP primary season and, later, for the Hillary Clinton campaign, ahs been forcefully denied by Donald Trump, who says the document is false and suggested at a news conference Wednesday that the intelligence community might be behind its release. The President-Elect and the intelligence community have had a contentious relationship ever since IC suggested Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails and that they were released to aid Trump's election chances. CNN did not release the memos, which have been circulating in Washington for months, because it said they could not be verified. But the website BuzzFeed did release them, saying the public should decide on their accuracy for themselves. Morell said he read the documents on Tuesday night, and this is where he seems to lie by small soundbites. Morrell told CNN, "This is what you see when you look at raw intelligence....I was looking at things that I knew -- small bits of information that I knew were true. But, I saw stuff that was absolutely not true -- small bits. I saw a bunch of stuff that I had no idea. I saw stuff that was contradictory." Morrell to Amanpour : "It's very important to remember that sources, even the best CIA sources, get things wrong all the time. They lie to enhance their credibility, right -- to try to get more money. So my bottom line was I can't tell what's true here and what's not. This needs a lot more work." • That is true, I suppose, but Morrell quietly planted the idea that there is truth in the unsubstantiated anti-Trump report. • • • ANDERSON COOPER vs KELLYANNE CONWAY. One of the more biearre controntations, even for CNN, came lqst night when Anderson cooper aske Trump advisor and camapign chariman Kellyanne Conway to acknowledge that CNN's report of the intel report on Trump was not misleading and that she didn't know the facts. Here is the transcript of their astonishing encounter published by Real Clear Politics. I watched the argument and, frankly, I was appalled at the dishonesty and twisting of the facts by Anderson Cooper, the last person on CNN that I had any small remnant of confidence in. You can decide for yourself : ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kellyanne, at today’s press conference, Sean Spicer conflated the unsubstantiated claims that BuzzFeed released with what CNN reported. And I was surprised by what he said because he said BuzzFeed and CNN made the decision to run with the unsubstantiated claim. That's simply not true. I mean, what CNN said is that CNN is not reporting on details of that memo, as it is not independently corroborated the specific allegations. Do you acknowledge CNN did not release the 35-page unsubstantiated claims against Donald Trump and it was misleading and untrue for Sean Spicer to suggest otherwise? KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISOR TO President-Elect TRUMP: No, our incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, was exactly right, as was the President-Elect, Anderson. CNN went first yesterday and BuzzFeed went second. COOPER: We didn't report what BuzzFeed reported. CONWAY: I didn't say that you did but you linked to it in your story. COOPER: But Sean Spicer said we did. CONWAY: Let me just tell you, Anderson, let’s back up. I know CNN must be feeling the heat today of having a headline yesterday at around 6:30 p.m. that said, quote, "Intel chiefs presented Trump with information that Russia could compromise -- Russia had information to compromise him." That is just false. And as you saw through NBC News reports today, tweets from people at "Politico", no friend of Donald Trump's, and a lot of -- frankly, a lot of outlets, print and electronic outlets, so reluctant and hesitant to go forward with anything close to what CNN or BuzzFeed did. COOPER: Again, you're conflating what Buzz -- CONWAY: You went first. No, I’m conflating nothing. COOPER: You’re conflating what BuzzFeed -- CONWAY: I just know what CNN did. Anderson, you know, you are responsible journalist. You've gone all over the world. You’re widely respected. COOPER: What's inaccurate about what CNN reported? CONWAY: Oh, my goodness, the whole headline. Go read the entire story. Four bylines and a story that's just not true that the President-Elect was presented with this information that it was appended in a two-page document to the briefing. NBC has said it was not. Other people have said it was not. They’re now receiving -- COOPER: NBC has said it was not verbally presented and CNN never said it was verbally presented. In fact, we said, CNN, in their reporting, based on multiple sources, said we don't know if it was verbally presented. What CNN said was and I quote, "classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-Elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump. Multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN." CONWAY: Anderson, your sources are not correct. And the fact is that -- COOPER: So, you're saying in that intelligence briefing there was no information in any of the documents that -- of that two-page summary? CONWAY: Two things on that. Number one, we don't discuss the classified information that is presented in intelligence briefings -- COOPER: Well, you just said it wasn't true. CONWAY: Excuse me, but, Anderson, if you want me to talk -- I know CNN is feeling the heat today. But I’m gracious enough to come -- COOPER: I think you guys are feeling the heat. CONWAY: -- on and discus it. We feel -- what heat do we feel? That you got this raw information, this complete ridiculous fake news, actually just fake is -- COOPER: It’s actually been backed up by not only multiple sources but other news agencies, "New York Times," Washington -- So, go ahead. CONWAY: I’m surprised you're arguing with me. It has not been backed up by credible news source us and you know as well as I do that these rumors were running around for months. Every news outlet was chasing these rumors. COOPER: We’re not reporting rumors. CONWAY: Anderson, because CNN went first and had this breathless report, everybody said it was a bombshell, earth-shattering report last night. COOPER: We didn't say it was a bombshell. CONWAY: BuzzFeed then went ahead -- yes, you did. Yes, it did. It says right here: Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian effort to compromise him. COOPER: Where's the word bombshell? CONWAY: That’s not true. Your headline is wrong. Then Seth Meyers said that he continue fronted me on the bombshell. None of it is true. CONWAY: I think a day later -- can you tell me that you would -- can you tell me would you run the same story today knowing what you know, everything that's happened? COOPER: Absolutely. CONWAY: Because it seems -- you would, wow, because the executive editor of "The New York Times" said they saw this information and they couldn’t corroborate. They couldn’t verify it. COOPER: They were talking about the BuzzFeed story. They’re talking about the BuzzFeed story. CONWAY: And so were you. You linked to -- COOPER: No, we said -- CONWAY: Why do you link to the BuzzFeed story in your report? COOPER: We said we cannot corroborate. We're not reporting what they released. In fact, Jake Tapper has been very critical of what BuzzFeed has done. CONWAY: If you couldn't corroborate it, why would you even link to it? Why are you linking to fake news? COOPER: We did not link to it. CONWAY: Why are you linking to this stuff? You know the Michael Cohen -- you know the Michael Cohen who is mentioned in that report is not the Michael Cohen who works at the Trump organization. This might -- COOPER: We never said he was. CONWAY: You're linking to the BuzzFeed report. COOPER: We're not linking to the BuzzFeed report. CONWAY: It's mentioned in here. I’m looking at the updated CNN report. I read it right before we came on air. And absolutely you know people -- why did you -- why did you run a story, why run a story based on anonymous sourcing that now has been rebutted about a two-page appendix that may not be true? COOPER: So, you're saying there was no two-page summary that was included in briefing material? CONWAY: The President-Elect was asked that question today. You should refer to his answer. • I can verify that the CNN story was headlined by the large red CNN banner that shouts "BREAKING NEWS" and that CNN broke into regular programming to talk abotu the report. • • • THE CNN BREAKING NEWS STORY ON THE TRUMP REPORT. Accuracy in Media (AIM) published the following summary of the CNN coverage -- I cnqvouch for it because I saw the CNN "Breaking News." • "On Tuesday, January 10, we saw the response. It was obvious, based on what this top Senate Democrat had said, that theCIA used CNN to air unsubstantiated charges against Trump. CNN didn’t delineate the bizarre sexual nature of those charges; that was left to a left-wing “news” organization by the name of BuzzFeed, which posted 35 pages of scurrilous lies and defamation. Demonstrating the sad state of ethical standards at CNN, Wolf Blitzer hyped the story into 'breaking news,' when the allegations had been circulating for months, and Jake Tapper was brought on the air, 'joining me with a major story we’re following right now,' Blitzer emphasized, 'We’re breaking this story.' It was the beginning of CNN regurgitating what President-Elect Trump called 'fake news.' What followed was a low point in Tapper’s career, as he willingly participated in a ginned-up controversy using anonymous sources to report on 'information' about Trump that started falling apart shortly after CNN aired its 'breaking news.' 'That’s right, Wolf, a CNN exclusive,' said Tapper, apparently unaware that he was recycling a document that had been passed around for months. It was CNN, which uses former CIA official Michael Morell as an on-air contributor, that ran with it. Morell has worked for Beacon Global Strategies, a firm founded by former Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines, since November 2013. Trying to distance himself from the controversy, Morell went on CNN to refer to some of the information as 'unverified' in the 'private document.' But the damage had already been done, and Morell knew it. CNN had manufactured a controversy over Trump yet again, demonstrating the truth of Schumer’s statement that the intelligence community would get back at Trump. Ironically, CNN is a 'partner' in an effort known as the First Draft Coalition that is dedicated 'to improving practices in the ethical sourcing, verification and reporting of stories that emerge online.' 'CNN has learned that the nation’s top intelligence officials gave information to President-Elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama last week about claims of Russian efforts to compromise President-Elect Trump,' said Tapper. 'The information was provided as part of last week’s classified intelligence briefings regarding Russian efforts to undermine the 2016 U.S. elections.' Trying to pump up the 'claims,' Jim Sciutto, Chief National Security Correspondent for CNN, said, 'To be clear, this has been an enormous team effort by my colleagues here and others at CNN.' A team effort to verify what? It looks like they were handed a 35-page document from the CIA and decided to publicize it. They failed to reveal the details precisely because they could not verify the document. Sciutto said, 'Multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN that classified documents on Russian interference in the 2016 US election presented last week to President Obama and to President-Elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.' Tapper brought in 'the legendary Carl Bernstein' -- a former reporter for The Washington Post who covered the Watergate scandal --- who referred to : A former British MI6 intelligence agent (anonymous). A Washington political opposition research firm (anonymous) that was hired by clients (anonymous) who were opposed to Donald Trump’s candidacy in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Washington researchers (anonymous) who had come across business ties of Trump in Russia with Russians (anonymous) that looked questionable to them. They (anonymous) wanted to develop the information further. They (anonymous) hired the former MI6 agent (anonymous) who they knew and had done previous business with. 'He [anonymous] began talking to Russian sources [anonymous] from his days in Russia and uncovered this information that’s now being considered by the American intelligence community.' So one of the Watergate reporters from the Washington Post had put his stamp of approval on the document by saying it was information that had been 'uncovered,' rather than being made up. How did he know one way or the other? The answer is he didn’t. Later, Tapper said the charges were 'uncorroborated as of now,' indicating that they might be confirmed by somebody at some time in the future. There was 'no proof' of the claims but 'confidence by intelligence officials that the Russians are claiming this.' Again, no names were provided. However, Bernstein came back to say that 'this former MI6 intelligence agent with great experience in Russia and the former Soviet Union [anonymous], is known to have terrific sources of information [anonymous], has a track record with the United States in coordinating with United States intelligence agencies.' He has 'a track record with the United States in coordinating with United States intelligence agencies.' What exactly does this mean?" • AIM then gives its own evaluation of the CNN coverage : "CNN was reporting 'news,' since a two-page CIA summary of this dirt was attached to a classified CIA report on Russian hacking and election influence that was given to Trump last Friday, January 6. But it was 'fake' in the sense that CNN had no way of knowing if the charges had been completely made up. On this basis, the story could and should have turned against the Intelligence Community, with reporters asking why unverified information had been used against Trump and whether this was retaliation for his criticism. But this course of action by CNN would make it impossible for CNN reporters to go back to these same sources for scurrilous information and false charges in the future. This fact makes it abundantly clear that the news organization was being used by anonymous sources in the Intelligence Community, most likely the CIA. Since CNN likes anonymous sources, I will use one of my own. 'This is a classic CIA blackmail operation where the CIA under Director John Brennan uses someone else’s dirt for the blackmail, and postures themselves as ‘innocent’ in presenting it to Trump,' one observer of the Intelligence Community told me. This is certainly the real story -- that an intelligence agency run by Obama’s CIA director would use an American television network to attack the President-Elect with scurrilous and unsubstantiated charges. This is how the Intelligence Community, in Schumer’s words, got back at Trump. Is America a constitutional republic ruled by the people through their elected representatives? Or do the intelligence agencies rule America and try to blackmail our leaders? The President-Elect said it would be 'a tremendous blot' on the record of the Intelligence Community if they did in fact release the document to the media. At another point, he said, 'I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false” get released in that fashion to CNN and BuzzFeed. CNN is 'fake news,' Trump said, and BuzzFeed 'is a failing pile of garbage.' BuzzFeed is being kept alive by the giant media company Comcast, which recently invested $200 million in the 'left-wing blog,' as incoming White House press secretary and Trump communications director Sean Spicer called it. It was Comcast that figured in Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s campaign statement about the need to break up 'the new media conglomerate oligopolies.' Navarro declared that media conglomerates were 'destroying an American democracy that depends on a free flow of information and freedom of thought,' adding, 'Donald Trump will drain the swamp of corruption and collusion, standing against this trend and standing for the American people.' ” • • • OTHER MEDIA SUPPORT TRUMP. NBC anchor Chuck Todd took on BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith over that website's decision to publish a 35 page document alleging that Russia had salacious compromising information about the President-Elect : "Don't you have a responsibility of not spreading false information? Are you knowingly spreading false information?" Smith answered : "We certainly quoted the President-Elect of the United States making false claims about it, and years ago we debated whether we should quote regular citizens in Iowa saying I don't believe his birth certificate. And I remember thinking at first, we shouldn't pass that on." Todd replied : "You just published fake news." BuzzFeed Smith's response was telling : "Publishing this dossier reflects how we see the job of reporters in 2017." • On Wednesday's edition of Sean Hannity's radio show, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich explained why Donald Trump lashed out at CNN's Jim Acosta during his press conference this afternoon : SEAN HANNITY: I've never seen a press conference like that in my entire life and everything that I said back in 2008 -- "journalism is dead" -- Trump probably buried it today, at least people's faith and confidence. If you didn't feel that journalism was dead after this election season where the media -- every single media outlet -- was proven to collude with the Hillary Clinton campaign, I don't know what else to tell you. Joining us now is former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Can you remember a single time where the person who arguing and yelling at the President-Elect was Jim Acosta from CNN, and his last line was "You're not appropriate." Do you ever remember Barrack Obama ever being treated like this? GINGRICH: No, because Barack Obama is the press' hand-picked loved candidate. There was a certain amount of yelling back and forth that you see [Ronald] Reagan get into, particularly Sam Donaldson. There's a couple things going on here. One is, Trump is deliberately trying to shrink and isolate CNN, and CNN is working hard to be worthy of that. This whole interlude of this -- all of our listeners ought to think about this. The so-called intelligence leadership happens to have a two-page document, about which we know nothing, which alleges Trump might have done something, which they cannot define. • • • DEAR READERS, the First Amendment is alive and well. But, it requires that every American understand the bias of the "news" he or she is hearing, it requires that the "news" be evaluated by cross-checking it against other reports on the same topic, and it requires that Americans never forget that the final evaluation of any "news" rests with them. All media must be evaluated before it is accepted -- much like every item bought online has to be tested before deciding to keep it. • One small proof of this came Monday when the new Fox News Tucker Carlson program got off to a great start in Carlson's primetime debut. It easily outdistancing both MSNBC and CNN, proving at least for now that the decision to slide him into Megyn Kelly’s old timeslot was an excellent one. Carlson averaged 493,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demo, beating out CNN’s town hall special with Bernie Sanders (414,000) and The Rachel Maddow Show (324,000). Overall, Tucker Carlson Tonight averaged 2.7 million total viewers, nearly beating the combined total of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show (1.369 million) and CNN’s town hall special (1.357 million). Compared to Kelly’s numbers on the same day last year, Carlson was up 27% in total viewers and a whopping 45% in the key 25-54 demographic, showing that Fox News may not wind up missing Kelly as much as everyone thought. • Those numbers are good, but new shows always attract the curious. We wil lsee in several months whether Tucker Carlson is the real thing. Whatever the result, remember that you are the final judge and jury of all news programs -- and that takes a little time and effort, which is not a lot to ask since it keeps our Republic and the First Amendment alive and healthy.