Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Russia: No Compromising Material on Trump



From the Wall Street Journal:
Russia on Wednesday denied it has compromising material on Donald Trump, calling a dossier of unverified allegations an “absolute fabrication” and an attempt to damage U.S.-Russian relations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the report, which claimed that Russia has material that could be used to blackmail Mr. Trump, as “pulp fiction,” according to Russian news agencies.

“This is a clear attempt to damage our bilateral relations,” he said. “Truly, there are those who whip up this hysteria, who will break their necks to support this ‘witch hunt’”

Mr. Peskov said that the Kremlin wasn’t involved in collecting compromising information on anyone, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

His comments come a day after it emerged that U.S. intelligence agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have spent months trying to substantiate explosive claims, compiled by a former Western intelligence official, that Russian government operatives engaged in an extensive conspiracy with advisers to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and employees of his company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The claims were deemed sufficiently significant by senior intelligence officials to summarize them in a two-page addendum to the classified briefing President-elect Trump received last Friday about Russian efforts to influence the U.S. presidential campaign, the people said.

“FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” Mr. Trump tweeted after the allegations surfaced publicly Tuesday evening.

U.S. officials confirmed that a summary of the information had been given to Mr. Trump. They said sharing of such unverified information was taken out of an abundance of caution that the incoming president should be aware of allegations being made against him that could become public—a decision intelligence experts backed. President Barack Obama received the same information, officials said.

Why believe what Russia says, that the allegations are an "absolute fabrication"?

We should question everything. Trust, but verify.

At this point, unverified allegations are unverified allegations. We know that the FBI has spent months trying to substantiate claims, but they haven't succeeded.

Perhaps, in time, the allegations will be verified. Perhaps, they will be declared "absolute fabrication."

In the meantime, we need to maintain proper perspective.

If the sky is actually falling, I want to know. But until there is verification that it is indeed crashing down, please zip it. Cut the hysteria.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buzzfeed is everything that is wrong with online journalism: do whatever necessary to maximize clicks and social media shares and links, whether the info is crap or not. The rationale of publishing so everyone can make up there own mind is also malarkey: how can an average citizen draw a conclusion on unverifiable info???? Predictably, the liberal sites are all over this, and Trump's sycophants are citing (lol?) Russia's denial and Wikileaks to call it fake news?

The MSM can qualify the dossier (just writing "dossier" makes it sound like a National Enquirer piece) as much as they want, but they are still putting it out there and feeding the fever swamps on the left and right. The claims are unverifiable until the old fashioned work of investigation is completed.

Mary said...

Forget about Buzzfeed. What's more disturbing to me is supposedly credible news outlets running with Buzzfeed's unsubstantiated crap, lending credibility to rumors. The Leftists have lost their minds with Trump's election.

"Journalists" need to decide whether they want to serve as members of the press striving to inform the public with the truth or propagandists and sleazemongers.