Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Wilder Fantasy

According to the New York Times, Obama, Congress, and Trump himself knew last fall that Russia had dirt on Trump which could be used to derail his election and/or used to blackmail him after he became president.

It’s not petty stuff. It includes, according to the Times, “sex videos involving prostitutes with Mr. Trump in a 2013 visit to a Moscow hotel,” and memos quoting “an unidentified Russian source” to the effect that “the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails was carried out with the full knowledge and support of TRUMP and senior members of his campaign team.”

“One of the memos claims,” the Times tells us, “that Mr. Cohen (a Trump adviser) went to Prague in August or September to meet with Kremlin representatives and to talk about Russian hacking of Democrats,” which is interesting. You may recall that intelligence officials invented a Prague meeting between a 9/11 planner and an Iraq official during the Iraq war buildup. It was later proven to be fiction, and Mr. Cohen has provided his passport which shows that he has never been to Prague in his life.

“If some of the unproven claims in the memos are merely titillating,” we are advised by the Times, “others would amount to extremely serious, potentially treasonous acts.” If, that is, “unproven claims” could ever possibly be considered as treason.

A Russian spokesman said that the whole kerfuffle, “isn’t consistent with reality and is nothing but an absolute fantasy,” which I’d say is a reasonable assessment of the situation.

The FBI had this material as early as June and released none of it because none of it could be verified. (Which should surprise no one.) None of it can be verified now either, which begs the question that, if nothing could be released due to lack of verification earlier, why is this being released now?

No one is answering that question, for the simple reason that no one is asking it.

1 comment:

  1. Bruce8:18 AM

    Because it's sensational BS that sells newspapers and fuels the political divide.

    Which is at least some of Mr. Putins goal, to sow FUD. Who needs the military when you have discord among your adversaries?

    ReplyDelete