Right Wing Manufactured Derangement Designed to Discredit Russia Investigation Only Discredits Right Wing
Remember the “secret society” inside the FBI created to take down President Trump – that was created by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that turned out to be a nothingburger? Remember the Nunes memo that was supposed to reveal bias against Trump so extreme it would be “worse than Watergate” yet turned out to be a nothingburger? Remember the text message between two FBI agents that said “POTUS wants to know everything” that Trump, Republicans, and Fox News swore was evidence Obama was meddling in the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s emails, that turned out to be a nothingburger?
Welcome to today’s GOP-created “scandal” designed to discredit the Russia investigation that is already proven to be a nothingburger – and yet it’s all over right wing media and Fox News – where the headline reads:
“Democratic Sen. Mark Warner texted with Russian oligarch lobbyist in effort to contact dossier author Christopher Steele.”
The story led President Trump to post this insane tweet Thursday night – instead of doing anything to prevent the second federal government shutdown under his administration that took place at midnight.
Scandal!
Except, it’s not.
“Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, had extensive contact last year with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele, according to text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News.”
Scandal!
Except, it’s not.
“We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country,” Warner texted the lobbyist, Adam Waldman, on March 22, 2017.
“I’m in,” Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton, texted back to Warner.
Scandal!
Except, it’s not.
“Secrecy seemed very important to Warner as the conversation with Waldman heated up March 29, when the lobbyist revealed that Steele wanted a bipartisan letter from Warner and the committee’s chairman, North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, inviting him to talk to the Senate intelligence panel,” Fox News’ Ed Henry breathlessly writes.
“Throughout the text exchanges, Warner seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop — at least initially. In one text to the lobbyist, Warner wrote that he would ‘rather not have a paper trail’ of his messages.”
So, here’s the bottom line:Â
Fox News admits the texts “were turned over to the Senate panel by Waldman [the lobbyist he texted] last September.”
Last year Senator Warner told the Republican Chairman of his committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina, of the texts and why he was texting – to get Steele to come and testify.Â
Even Republican Senators are saying there’s no scandal.
Fox News, near the end of the article even admits: “The senators released a joint statement to Fox News stressing they are working together, while blasting the ‘leaks of incomplete information.'”
And “Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., another member of the committee, tweeted Thursday night that Warner ‘fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.’ He added that the disclosure ‘has had zero impact on our work.'”
Here’s how Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” tried Friay morning to keep the bogus story alive:
So, where’s the scandal?
Really grasping for straws, Fox News’ Ed Henry tosses in the tidbit from above, “Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton.”
What exactly are those “ties”?
The right-leaning website Mediaite explains just how bogus the charge is:
“There is a connection between Hillary Clinton and Waldman’s Endeavor Group, however tenuous. Back in 2009, when the notice was filed with the DOJ, former Clinton communications director Lorrie McHugh-Wytkind was listed as a partner, though she has since moved on.”
As should everyone from this nothingburger.