The New York Times on Thursday said it is “looking into” reporting that fired FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee is inaccurate.
We are looking into James Comey's statements, and we will report back with more information as soon as we can. https://t.co/v9OzWbbjUP
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 8, 2017
Sen. James Risch (R-ID) on Thursday cited a February report by the New York Times that members of President Donald Trump’s campaign had “repeated contacts” with Russian intelligence officials before the 2016 election.
“That report by the New York Times was not true. Is that a fair statement?” he asked.
“In the main, it was not true,” Comey replied. “The challenge, and I’m not picking on reporters about writing stories about classified information, is that people talking about it often don’t really know what’s going on and those of us who actually know what’s going on are not talking about it.”
Later in the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked Comey, “Would it be fair to characterize that story as almost entirely wrong?”
“Yes,” Comey replied.
“Did you have at the time that story was published any indication of any contact between Trump people and Russians, intelligence officers, other government officials or close associates of the Russian government?” Cotton pressed.
“That’s one I can’t answer sitting here,” Comey said.
He did not specify how much of the story was inaccurate, or which allegations were untrue.
This will be used to cast doubt on the accuracy and truthfulness of both Comey’s testimony, AND all reporting on Russia’s coercion into our last election by ALL media. End result, we don’t know what to believe, so let’s ignore everything and assume T rump & Co. is completely innocent.
They will enlarge this tiny fragment of a much bigger story, spin it perpetually for the base, which will use it as a last refuge for their abject ignorance…
And what do you bet the Times will come back with “We stand by our reporting!” ?!?
Did Comey’s characterization of Kislyak as being more ambassador than intelligence agent maybe explain this?
Journalism is the first draft of history. First drafts often contain mistakes.