Contrary to what the media wants to present, the biggest story of yesterday was not Fiona Hill letting everyone know how great she is during the impeachment hearing. In the end, her testimony added nothing to the equation except to serve as another set piece for Democrats. She had no knowledge of any impeachable conduct.
The bigger, much more consequential story yesterday was first shared by my colleague streiff, which involved leakers running to CNN to tell the network that someone at the FBI was under investigation for illegally altering FISA documents. This certainly relates to the Carter Page warrant and John Durham’s investigation into the broader questions surrounding the Trump-Russia investigation.
An FBI official is under criminal investigation after allegedly altering a document related to 2016 surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser, several people briefed on the matter told CNN.
The possibility of a substantive change to an investigative document is likely to fuel accusations from President Donald Trump and his allies that the FBI committed wrongdoing in its investigation of connections between Russian election meddling and the Trump campaign.
I’m going to guess that “fueling accusations” is the least of anyones worries at this point, although that’s the kind of ridiculous spin we’ve all come to expect from CNN.
As other have speculated, this is clearly an attempt to get out in front of the IG report, which likely contains the criminal referral that has spawned this latest criminal investigation. The way this game goes is simple. When someone bad is about to break for the FBI or CIA, Fusion GPS runs to source stories in the mainstream media in order to preemptively set the narrative. That way the the media can 1) claim it’s old news when things finally drop and 2) can paint the guilty bureaucrats as sympathetic figures just trying to do their job.
This is a leak to shape the narrative looking at the outlet and the reporters involved https://t.co/EWsMNupVb2
— Undercover Huber (@JohnWHuber) November 21, 2019
Regardless, given the gravity of the report and the fact that CNN was given the scoop, surely they ran with the story. They are purportedly a news agency after all.
Ah, who am I kidding.
CNN has yet to cover this bombshell in Anderson Cooper's hour. Erin Burnett didn't mention it at all the hour before. Evan Perez broke the story on Wolfe Blitzer's show. Looks like CNN is burying its own scoop. https://t.co/LufIX0uuEp
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) November 22, 2019
But wait, maybe Chris Cuomo would cover it?
Hard hitting journalism here from Chris Cuomo.
I thought at the end he was going to ask McCabe and Jim Baker about CNN's big FBI bombshell.
"Let's get into what we do know now,"……and then he asks about Fiona Hill.
https://t.co/aqKh8NQJEz— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) November 22, 2019
That’s Andrew McCabe, almost certainly under criminal investigation himself, sitting there on the left. Cuomo never brings up CNN’s big scoop. An hour later, Don Lemon punted as well.
Zuckerbergs’s dumpster fire network blacked out their own breaking news scoop because it might held Donald Trump. Think about how absurd that is.
You can expect this to continue when the IG report is released on Dec. 9th. They are going to obfuscate, ignore, and spin every part of it. I guess that’s what you get when you operate in a parody world where Chris Cuomo, Anderson Cooper, and Don Lemon are considered “journalists.”
———————————————
Enjoying the read? Please visit my archive to read more of my latest articles.
Find me on Twitter and help out by following @bonchieredstate
Join the conversation as a VIP Member