This is called just making things up to get out of trouble.
When asked to back up Trump’s wild claims by CNN’s Jake Tapper, the Trump White House confirmed that Trump got his ideas not from actual sources in the government, but from conspiracy and alternative fact specialists Breitbart and Levin. That is to say, they got nothing.
While digging in to these accusations to see if there is any merit to them (while RussiaGate simmers in the background where Trump no doubt wanted it to be), Tapper warned journalists to keep in mind that Trump is a conspiracy monger who puts “out wild accusations that are untethered to reality.”
WH officials with whom I spoke said POTUS got the info about wiretap from media – Breitbart, Levin – not from govt sources.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2017
Obviously FBI/DOJ wiretap of POTUS would be HUGE story. One illegally ordered by previous POTUS even bigger. BUT WH officials have no proof
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2017
3/Most reporters I know are digging on this. But every current Intel voice is saying they know of nothing to back up this claim.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2017
4/Moreover we cannot pretend we haven't been here before, w/POTUS putting out wild accusations that are untethered to reality.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2017
5/Obama's birth certificate/ Vaccines/ Ted Cruz's father & Lee Harvey Oswald / crowd sizes/ Vince Foster / Murder rate / 3-5 illegal votes
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2017
6/ In any case, will continue to report. WH call for Congress to find evidence of POTUS claim with "no further comment" is not proof.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 5, 2017
There is no proof or even any evidence at all that would suggest people should be going on a wild goose chase looking for evidence of Obama wrongdoing when it is many in the Trump administration and campaign who are known to have been communicating with Russian spies and lying about it during the campaign.
Trump probably counts this derailing of his Russia scandal as a win, but he is wrong. One weekend of news stories does not a scandal make.
The scandal that Trump can’t bury is the the overarching story of Trump’s close ties with a hostile foreign power that interfered in our election, because while that sounds far-fetched, there is actual evidence that led all U.S. intelligence agencies to this conclusion.
Jake Tapper just warned people to bear in mind from whence this accusation came. It came from the guy so dedicated to the birther conspiracy he didn’t let facts stand in his way. The real story, of course, is Trump’s Russia problem. And that story has legs.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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