Really? You are going to cite denials by Russia as evidence?Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
That is a patently false statement.Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
I win an election easily, a great "movement" is verified, and crooked opponents try to belittle our victory with FAKE NEWS. A sorry state!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Okay the fact that he cited Nazi Germany made me choke on my coffee.Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Trump using lies and disinformation to defend himself against these allegations makes it hard to defend him, but to be fair he is not completely wrong.
The documents released by Buzzfeed, are indeed unverified, and by all accounts though numerous journalists have worked to verify them they have failed to do so.
So even though this story has been widely reported by a number of news outlets, most of them make sure to tell their visitors that there is no independent verification of the accusations.
However as for Trump claiming this is "fake news" it seems appropriate to share a story that Newsweek posted yesterday which contained this little tidbit:
Even as Trump was disputing the role played by the Kremlin in the hacking, his campaign was scouring sites publicly identified by American intelligence as sources for Russian propaganda. Ten days before the third debate, Newsweek published an article exposing how Trump had cited—as fact—a document altered by Russian propagandists and put out on the internet, suggesting (erroneously) that Clinton’s closest allies believed she bore responsibility for the attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Sputnik, which has been publicly identified by intelligence agencies as a key disinformation site of the Kremlin, published an article citing the document. The site, which later took down the article, published another one attacking Newsweek and essentially denying the news organization was controlled by the Kremlin. Before the day was out, the Trump campaign was emailing links of that article to multiple reporters, including at publications like The Daily Caller, urging them to pursue the story.
If you live by the fake news sword, you die by the fake news sword.
Trump may be correct that those unverified reports are complete BS, but the problem is that they fit quite well with stories that contain verified information which paint a picture of a man deeply beholden to Russia and seemingly controlled by that country's tyrannical dictator.
Personally I do not think that you need this newest unverified story to know that Donald Trump is completely unfit to lead this country.
Source http://ift.tt/2j6E8nU
