"That ruse is dead." GOP anchor lays waste to Trump’s Russia dossier lie
Donald Trump kicked off the new year with a flurry of absurd and reckless distractions, but the Russia investigation continues to be an existential threat to his presidency. And he just lost one of his favorite deflection tactics. While Trump was enjoying his golf vacation and throwing a lavish for-profit New Year’s Eve party in […]
Donald Trump kicked off the new year with a flurry of absurd and reckless distractions, but the Russia investigation continues to be an existential threat to his presidency.
And he just lost one of his favorite deflection tactics.
While Trump was enjoying his golf vacation and throwing a lavish for-profit New Year’s Eve party in Florida, The New York Times was breaking the news that the FBI investigation into Trump campaign collusion began as the result of loose-lipped and now-convicted Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos’ drunken boasts to an Australian diplomat.
According to The Times, Papadopoulos bragged to Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Alexander Downer that the Russians possessed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in May of 2016. After hacked emails began showing up online, Australian intelligence officials shared Papadopoulos’ revelation with U.S. intelligence officials.
“The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the F.B.I. to open an investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election,” the Times reported.
On Tuesday afternoon, MSNBC host and longtime Republican consultant Nicolle Wallace pointed out that this new reporting effectively kills Trump’s new favorite talking point that the infamous “Steele dossier” was the genesis of the investigation, and that it was tainted by that dossier’s political origins.
“That ruse is dead,” Wallace declared.
“This seems like a nail in the coffin of that story as being the thing that instigated” the FBI investigation into Trump campaign ties with Russia, she added.
Trump has tried to spin a narrative in which the FBI colluded with Democrats to nail him with the dossier, a weak defense to begin with considering how much of the dossier’s contents have been confirmed.
But as Wallace points out, this new reporting utterly destroys that feeble notion.
And since Papadopoulos is now a cooperating witness for special counsel Robert Mueller, it will only become more impossible for Trump to escape or deny the truth.
Recommended
Biden campaign launches new ad focused on Affordable Care Act
Former President Trump has said he wants to do away with the popular health care law.
By Kim Lyons, Pennsylvania Capital-Star - May 08, 2024Trump leaves door open to banning medication abortion nationwide
Donald Trump is planning to release more details in the weeks ahead about how his administration would regulate access to medication abortion, according to comments he made during a lengthy interview with Time magazine published Tuesday.
By Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom - April 30, 2024Biden on abortion rights: President expects to give speech Tuesday on new Florida 6-week ban
‘Having the president of the United States speaking out loud and with confidence about abortion access is a great thing’
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix - April 22, 2024