CIA blasts CNN's "misguided" and "simply false" reporting about Trump and alleged spy's extraction

CNN needs to be cut down a bunch of pegs, not just two, for being the purveyors of fake news. The term fake news is one that shouldn't be used in normal conversation about journalism, but it seems as if CNN's acronym stands for Compromised Nonsense News. While we are blessed with the First Amendment in this country, there needs to be at least some oversight when the media outright lies, be it about the President of the United States, or any citizen.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) went after CNN and their report about President Trump, who the media outlet say "repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy." The CNN national security "correspondent" wrote a hole-filled piece that said this but the CIA says that claim is "misguided" and "simply false." And it is entirely possible the story was leaked by John Brennan, who is now a CNN operative.

It's very out of character for the agency to chastise a so-called journalist, but even The New York Times published a powerful piece last night that contradicted the CNN fairy tale.

According to The Times, CIA officials  "made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia" -- weeks before Trump took office. Concerns about media reporting on Russian election interference drove the decision, according to the Times. Yes, it was the media that concerned the CIA over the safety of their asset.

"Former intelligence officials said there was no public evidence that Mr. Trump directly endangered the source, and other current American officials insisted that media scrutiny of the agency’s sources alone was the impetus for the extraction," The Times honestly wrote, in a change of pace for the former newspaper.

The purported spy refused the 2016 offer of Kremlin extraction, The Times reported, citing family concerns. However, the CIA "pressed again months later after more media inquiries" threatened the source, and he finally agreed.

The story deepened when NBC News exclusively reported that a possible Russia spy was currently living under U.S. protection and the idiots used his true identity and revealed that he lived in Washington, D.C., adding that his life could be in danger [no kidding].

An NBC News journalist knocked on the alleged spy's door and was soon confronted by several men presumed to be security personnel. Unfortunately, they did not punch the NBC News reporter in the face multiple times for doing what CNN claimed Trump had done.

"CNN's narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false," CIA Director for Public Affairs Brittany Bramell said in a statement not written in invisible ink.

The lovely Ms. Bramwell continued: "Misguided speculation that the President's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence — which he has access to each and every day — drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate."

Upon hearing Bramwell's statement, CNN's Jim Acosta had to excuse himself and returned soon after with swollen, reddened eyes and runny nose.

According to CNN chief national correspondent and execrable former Obama administration official Jim Scuitto, the decision to carry out the extraction "occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel."

The disclosure "prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure," CNN falsely reported.

It was not clear from the CNN piece how exactly Trump's comments in the Oval Office would have further compromised the Russian source, but when you make up negative stuff about a person your audience hates, details are less important than feelings.

Many other holes quickly surfaced in CNN's reporting. For one, commentator Aaron Mate pointed out in a Twitter thread that several major news organizations had previously cited a high-level source in the Russian government as a source -- suggesting that the intelligence community itself, not Trump, had compromised the spy.

Many media outlets who jump, before they check the water in the pool, at the chance to report on Trump's foibles and chaos, picked up the CNN fairy tale: The Hill, the Guardian and Vox never questioned CNN's report. Fox News didn't take the bait.

The developments led to speculation as to who had leaked the information to CNN -- especially in light of previous anti-Trump leaks that found their way to the organization -- and led commentators to again fault the accuracy of CNN's initial reporting. I believe that it was John Brennan, but that's only speculation.

If it was Brennan who leaked, he should be indicted.


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