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Trump reacts to Columbia Journalism Review’s ‘staggering’ 18-month investigative report on Steele Dossier hoax

February 2, 2023 | | Print Article

A vindicated former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to respond to a “staggering” 18-month-long investigation by the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) into the now-debunked Steele dossier and the “damage” it wreaked on the media’s credibility.

“The Columbia Journalism Review, in no way a conservative publication, conducted an 18-month investigation into the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax and has just issued its report,” Trump posted on Wednesday. “It is a STAGGERING, detailed account of the lies, disinformation, and complete lack of journalistic integrity exhibited by the purveyors of Fake News at the Washington Compost (sometimes known as the Washington Post), the Failing New York Times, and many others.”

As BizPac Review reported in October, the infamous Steele dossier was the foundation upon which the FBI justified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications to target former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. It became a defining focal point of Trump’s presidency, as the term “fake news” entered America’s lexicon and launched the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign over allegations of Russian collusion.

In his October 2022 testimony, FBI supervisory analyst Brian Auten claimed the FBI offered back in October 2016 to pay ex-British spy Christopher Steele a $1 million bonus if he could corroborate the claims he made in his explosive dossier, which was funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign — something Steele failed to do.

“The two most inflammatory, and enduring, slogans commandeered by Trump in this conflict were ‘fake news’ and the news media as ‘the enemy of the American people,” Jeff Gerth writes for CJR. “They both grew out of stories in the first weeks of 2017 about Trump and Russia that wound up being significantly flawed or based on uncorroborated or debunked information, according to FBI documents that later became public. Both relied on anonymous sources.”

Gerth continues:

Before the 2016 election, most Americans trusted the traditional media and the trend was positive, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. The phrase “fake news” was limited to a few reporters and a newly organized social media watchdog. The idea that the media were “enemies of the American people” was voiced only once, just before the election on an obscure podcast, and not by Trump, according to a Nexis search.

Today, the US media has the lowest credibility—26 percent—among forty-six nations, according to a 2022 study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. In 2021, 83 percent of Americans saw “fake news” as a “problem,” and 56 percent—mostly Republicans and independents—agreed that the media were “truly the enemy of the American people,” according to Rasmussen Reports.

Trump, years later, can’t stop looking back.

 

Gerth pulls no political punches in his analysis of the Russiagate timeline.

“Three days before Trump’s presidential announcement, Hillary Clinton entered the race, and it was she, not Trump, who began her campaign facing scrutiny over Russia ties,” he notes. “Weeks earlier, the Times had collaborated with the conservative author of a best-selling book to explore various Clinton-Russia links, including a lucrative speech in Moscow by Bill Clinton, Russia-related donations to the Clinton family foundation, and Russia-friendly initiatives by the Obama administration while Hillary was secretary of state.”

As Trump’s viability as a candidate grew, Clinton apparently did what Democrats are now famous for doing: To deflect from her own actions, she found a way to accuse her opponent of doing what the evidence suggests she herself did.

“By 2016, as Trump’s political viability grew and he voiced admiration for Russia’s ‘strong leader,’ Clinton and her campaign would secretly sponsor and publicly promote an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that there was a secret alliance between Trump and Russia,” Gerth writes, adding, “The media would eventually play a role in all that.”

Even Watergate journalist Bob Woodward blasted the media for its handling of the story.

“[N]ews outlets and watchdogs haven’t been as forthright in examining their own Trump-Russia coverage, which includes serious flaws,” Gerth reports. “Bob Woodward, of the Post, told me that news coverage of the Russia inquiry ‘wasn’t handled well’ and that he thought viewers and readers had been ‘cheated.’ He urged newsrooms to ‘walk down the painful road of introspection.'”

For Trump, the CJR report is confirmation of not only the media’s influence on his 2016 campaign and presidency, it also proves the 2020 election was “rigged.”

“This Fake News, with all of its disinformation, had a huge impact on the 2020 Presidential Election, just one of the many ways that the Election was Rigged and Stolen,” he fumed on Truth Social. “This proves, once again, that the Corrupt, Woke, Radical Democrats stole the 2020 Election, making it impossible for that fact to be called ‘the Big Lie,’ as the Marxists and Communists in our Country attempt to portray it.”

Melissa Fine
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