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U.S. Intel Community Rushes to Dump ‘Trump Dossier’ Intel officials dump on veracity, professionalism of unverified, salacious report on president-elect The intelligence community may be running away from the “Trump dossier,” a dubious 35-page document commissioned by Republican and Democratic candidates who opposed President-Elect Donald Trump’s election.
The dossier appeared in dramatic fashion Tuesday night, with a CNN report on the research hitting first.
“You just published fake news,” said NBC News’ Chuck Todd to BuzzFeed’s editor. Perhaps sensing the salacious document’s clickbait potential, BuzzFeed published the entire document shortly after the CNN report.
The dossier contains stories of Russian influence upon Trump, in tones reminiscent of the James Bond film, “From Russia With Love.”
The dossier was reportedly composed by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 operative for the United Kingdom. MI6 gathers foreign intelligence for the British government.
The report was commissioned by a top Republican donor. The opposition research was carried out by Fusion GPS, a political firm run by Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, according to The New York Times.
The Times reported Wednesday that Steele was the top Russian expert at MI6 until he stepped down in 2009, a man who disliked Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But Steele’s dossier was more Mr. Bean than James Bond. The report, first published by BuzzFeed, contained at least several errors.
One of them was a suggestion there is a Russian consulate in Miami, a possible error first pointed out by Republican consultant Liz Mair. There is no such consulate there, and the closest one is in Washington, D.C.
Perhaps the biggest mistake was suggesting Trump attorney Michael Cohen was in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, last summer, as part of a covert meeting with a Russian operative.
The paranoid assertion recalled liberal and Democratic smears upon former President George H.W. Bush in the 1980s, when conspiracy theorists charged that Bush flew to Paris in 1980 to delay the release of Iranian hostages, ensuring no "October surprise" to help President Jimmy Carter in his re-election bid.
Like that demented fantasy, a few pokes at the Cohen theory caused it to fall apart like wet tissue paper. Cohen denied he had ever been to Prague, and produced his passport to prove it.
Other assertions in the 35-page report are harder to prove, mostly because Steele himself, an ex-spy, didn't talk to Russian sources in-person. He had to use sources to talk to other sources, The Times reports.
Some claims are simply too salacious to likely be true, including those of a sexual nature.
But nevertheless, Steele, reportedly, had gone around media circles in Washington, D.C., and New York City to get the dossier published before the election. No one would touch it, although David Corn of Mother Jones reported on alleged Russian influence over Trump before the election.
After the BuzzFeed issue, Corn admitted he had seen the document but couldn't substantiate it.
Steele, now at Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. in London, is reportedly in hiding after his report was published and his name hit print. The Wall Street Journal was the first outlet to report on Steele's identity.
But even before Steele's identity was known, the U.S. intelligence community slowly started to trash the "Trump Dossier." ... Late Wednesday afternoon, Politico reporter Ken Vogel tweeted that private intelligence firms were not impressed: "Talking with lotsa [sic] private intel folks, consensus is that doc't posted by BuzzFeed News is 'total dog sh*t' as work product, as one put it."
NBC News' Chuck Todd went after BuzzFeed's editor, Ben Smith, asking him in person if he just published false information.
"You just published fake news," said Todd.
Trump ‘Dossier’ Story Betrays Massive Media Double Standard Journalistic ethics go out the door when it comes to bashing president-elect But that reporting hasn't kept The Times from seeming to gloat about Trump's problems.
"Americans are divided and confused about what to believe about the incoming president. And there is no prospect soon for full clarity on the veracity of the claims made against him," The Times wrote in its conclusion of the issue on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, mainstream media outlets are reporting that the Ukrainian government, a former Soviet bloc nation, worked to undermine Trump during the election.
Politico reported on Thursday morning that Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton.
The Ukrainians also released documents to embarrass Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and assisted the Democrats in anti-Trump research.
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