Media Must Investigate All Of The Collusion
July 22, 2017 at 4:11 a.m.
By Gary [email protected]
Junior said he got nothing usable from the meeting. I posited the theory that Junior got played. I still believe that.
Last weekend – after the column was published – I read an Associated Press story about a Russian lobbyist who was in the room, too. He claimed the Russian lawyer gave Junior a folder full of information about how Hillary received illicit donations from Russians.
Of course, who knows if you can believe any of this, right?
But what was interesting to me was how the notion of Hillary potentially “colluding” with the Russians was completely ignored by the media. Only Junior’s ties were of any interest. If Hillary was taking ill-gotten cash from Russians, isn’t that worth looking into?
Junior’s meeting was ill-advised and stupid.
And there are plenty of iffy business ties between Russians and several Trumpites.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions communicated with the Russian ambassador before he became attorney general and was less than forthcoming about it during his confirmation.
Michael Flynn got paid for a speech in Russia and lied to the vice president about his conversations with Russian officials.
Paul Manafort, then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, served as an adviser to the pro-Russian Ukrainian president.
Another adviser, Carter Page, had energy deals with Russian companies.
All this stuff is worth looking into. Certainly, the shining light of public scrutiny should be shined upon them.
The only one of those folks left in the administration is Sessions. The others got fired or never were part of it.
So please, big media, investigate all those ties to Russia. Seek out the collusion. And report on it robustly and fairly.
But at the same time, could ya do the same thing on the other side of the aisle? I mean, seriously, this Russia collusion reporting may be the most jarring double standard in the history of American journalism.
There are tons of evidence of real, verifiable, provable, incontrovertible collusion by numerous Democrats over the past several years and the media couldn’t care less.
I purposely avoided overtly conservative sources.
From Politco last January:
• "Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton's allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisors."
Politico reported the Democratic National Committee, acting on behalf of Hillary, actually contacted officials in Ukraine seeking opposition research against Trump.
It was Ukrainian info about Manafort’s meeting with Russians that got him fired, so it looks like the Demos actually used the info.
Collusion? Nah, just politics.
Multiple sources:
• Bill Clinton got $500,000 in 2010 for giving a speech in Moscow, paid for by a company with ties to Russian intelligence, while Hillary was the nation's top diplomat.
Could you image the level of reporting if Melania got $500K for a speech in Russia?
• Putin confidant Viktor Vekselberg and others gave lots of money to the Clinton Foundation.
• Uranium One, which was sold to the Russian government in 2010, was a Clinton Foundation donor. When Russia acquired Uranium One, it got control of 20 percent of U.S. uranium deposits. Hillary’s state department approved the sale.
• John Podesta was Hillary’s campaign manager. He failed to disclose during the campaign that he acquired 75,000 shares of stock from an outfit called Joule Unlimited. A couple of months after he joined the executive board of Joule, the Russian government pumped $35 million into the company through a Vladimir Putin-approved investment fund called Rusnano. Rusnano was identified by the U.S. State Department as a security concern because its investment in civilian technology could slop over into the military.
When Podesta joined the Obama White House as a counselor to the president, sources told the Wall Street Journal he hid his Joule holdings by transfering them to a shell company owned by his family.
• John's brother, Tony Podesta, was paid $24 million in fees as a lobbyist in 2016, much of it from foreign governments. He lobbied for Sberbank, a Russian financial firm, that was trying to get U.S. sanctions removed that had been imposed after Russia took the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
• How about President Obama’s hot-mic conversation with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev?
Obama tells Medvedev Putin needs to give him some space: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space.”
Medvedev: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ... .”
Obama: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.”
(Putin had just won an election to replace Medvedev.) Later, when Putin invaded Crimea, Obama’s response was tepid at best. No missile defense buildup in Eastern Europe. Collusion?
• There was the infamous “Trump dossier” produced by ex-British spy Christopher Steele that was chock full of salacious allegations. Writing in the Washington Times, Rowan Scarborough notes that, "Mr. Steele makes clear that his unproven charges came almost exclusively from sources linked to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
The whole mess was funded by Fusion GPS, an opposition research group hired by the Democrats.
• Remember all those green energy groups Hillary Clinton was touting during the election? Now, House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, tells the Wall Street Journal the green groups were working in collusion with Russia.
"If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking. They have established an elaborate scheme that funnels money through shell companies in Bermuda. This scheme may violate federal law and certainly distorts the U.S. energy market. The American people deserve to know the truth and I am confident (Treasury) Secretary (Steve) Mnuchin will investigate the allegations."
This is only scratching the surface. There’s lots more of this stuff out there.
So, by all means, big media, investigate Russian collusion.
All of it.
Junior said he got nothing usable from the meeting. I posited the theory that Junior got played. I still believe that.
Last weekend – after the column was published – I read an Associated Press story about a Russian lobbyist who was in the room, too. He claimed the Russian lawyer gave Junior a folder full of information about how Hillary received illicit donations from Russians.
Of course, who knows if you can believe any of this, right?
But what was interesting to me was how the notion of Hillary potentially “colluding” with the Russians was completely ignored by the media. Only Junior’s ties were of any interest. If Hillary was taking ill-gotten cash from Russians, isn’t that worth looking into?
Junior’s meeting was ill-advised and stupid.
And there are plenty of iffy business ties between Russians and several Trumpites.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions communicated with the Russian ambassador before he became attorney general and was less than forthcoming about it during his confirmation.
Michael Flynn got paid for a speech in Russia and lied to the vice president about his conversations with Russian officials.
Paul Manafort, then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, served as an adviser to the pro-Russian Ukrainian president.
Another adviser, Carter Page, had energy deals with Russian companies.
All this stuff is worth looking into. Certainly, the shining light of public scrutiny should be shined upon them.
The only one of those folks left in the administration is Sessions. The others got fired or never were part of it.
So please, big media, investigate all those ties to Russia. Seek out the collusion. And report on it robustly and fairly.
But at the same time, could ya do the same thing on the other side of the aisle? I mean, seriously, this Russia collusion reporting may be the most jarring double standard in the history of American journalism.
There are tons of evidence of real, verifiable, provable, incontrovertible collusion by numerous Democrats over the past several years and the media couldn’t care less.
I purposely avoided overtly conservative sources.
From Politco last January:
• "Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton's allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisors."
Politico reported the Democratic National Committee, acting on behalf of Hillary, actually contacted officials in Ukraine seeking opposition research against Trump.
It was Ukrainian info about Manafort’s meeting with Russians that got him fired, so it looks like the Demos actually used the info.
Collusion? Nah, just politics.
Multiple sources:
• Bill Clinton got $500,000 in 2010 for giving a speech in Moscow, paid for by a company with ties to Russian intelligence, while Hillary was the nation's top diplomat.
Could you image the level of reporting if Melania got $500K for a speech in Russia?
• Putin confidant Viktor Vekselberg and others gave lots of money to the Clinton Foundation.
• Uranium One, which was sold to the Russian government in 2010, was a Clinton Foundation donor. When Russia acquired Uranium One, it got control of 20 percent of U.S. uranium deposits. Hillary’s state department approved the sale.
• John Podesta was Hillary’s campaign manager. He failed to disclose during the campaign that he acquired 75,000 shares of stock from an outfit called Joule Unlimited. A couple of months after he joined the executive board of Joule, the Russian government pumped $35 million into the company through a Vladimir Putin-approved investment fund called Rusnano. Rusnano was identified by the U.S. State Department as a security concern because its investment in civilian technology could slop over into the military.
When Podesta joined the Obama White House as a counselor to the president, sources told the Wall Street Journal he hid his Joule holdings by transfering them to a shell company owned by his family.
• John's brother, Tony Podesta, was paid $24 million in fees as a lobbyist in 2016, much of it from foreign governments. He lobbied for Sberbank, a Russian financial firm, that was trying to get U.S. sanctions removed that had been imposed after Russia took the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
• How about President Obama’s hot-mic conversation with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev?
Obama tells Medvedev Putin needs to give him some space: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space.”
Medvedev: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ... .”
Obama: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.”
(Putin had just won an election to replace Medvedev.) Later, when Putin invaded Crimea, Obama’s response was tepid at best. No missile defense buildup in Eastern Europe. Collusion?
• There was the infamous “Trump dossier” produced by ex-British spy Christopher Steele that was chock full of salacious allegations. Writing in the Washington Times, Rowan Scarborough notes that, "Mr. Steele makes clear that his unproven charges came almost exclusively from sources linked to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
The whole mess was funded by Fusion GPS, an opposition research group hired by the Democrats.
• Remember all those green energy groups Hillary Clinton was touting during the election? Now, House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, tells the Wall Street Journal the green groups were working in collusion with Russia.
"If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking. They have established an elaborate scheme that funnels money through shell companies in Bermuda. This scheme may violate federal law and certainly distorts the U.S. energy market. The American people deserve to know the truth and I am confident (Treasury) Secretary (Steve) Mnuchin will investigate the allegations."
This is only scratching the surface. There’s lots more of this stuff out there.
So, by all means, big media, investigate Russian collusion.
All of it.
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