Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey is rather desperate to keep a pro-Trump bias at the website he operates. In service of that, CNS loves to push the idea that no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, even investigations into it have not been completed.
So when the Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report echoing that same talking point, Jeffrey pounced on it:
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence published a redacted version of its final report on its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, concluding that there is no evidence the Trump campaign “colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government.”
In the course of its investigation, the committee says, it “interviewed 73 witnesses, conducted 9 hearings and briefings, reviewed approximately 307,900 documents, and issued 20 subpoenas.”
Among the committee’s findings:
--“When asked directly, none of the interviewed witnesses provided evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.”
--“The committee found no evidence that President Trump’s pre-campaign business dealings formed the basis for collusion during the campaign.”
--“There is no evidence that Trump associates were involved in the theft or publication of Clinton campaign-related emails, although Trump associates had numerous ill-advised contact with Wikileaks.”
--“Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort attended a June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower where they expected to receive—but did not ultimately obtain—derogatory information on candidate Clinton from Russian sources.”
--“The committee found no evidence that meetings between Trump associates—including Jeff Sessions—and official representatives of the Russian government—including Ambassador Kislyak—reflected collusion, coordination, or conspiracy with the Russian government.”
The committee said it investigated “Trump’s business dealings,” “the campaign’s policy positions and personnel,” “involvement in or knowledge about the publication of stolen emails,” and “meetings with Russians,” but did not discover evidence of “collusion, conspiracy or coordination.”
Jeffrey did not tell his readers that this report came from the Republican side of the committee, which has a vested interest in protecting Trump by downplaying accusations of collusion. He also did not mention that the committee's Democrats issued a separate report, which claimed that Republicans ended the committee's work prematurely.
That was accompanied by another article from Jeffrey highlighting how "When former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper met with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on July 17, 2017 as part of the committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Clappers aid he had no evidence of collusion between the Russian and the Trump campaign." Jeffrey didn't mention that Clapper ceased being DNI at the end of President Obama's term, and therefore he would likely have no knowledge of findings of government investigations launched in the six months between his departure as DNI and his committee testimony or from any probes launched before he left.
These article appear to be more about Jeffrey sucking up to Trump than they are about reporting useful, balanced information to CNS readers.
