The media’s latest anti-Trump “bombshell” … … … … oh, sorry, I nodded off for a moment there — was dropped Thursday night, so let me be the first to welcome you to this weekend’s round of breathless “the walls are closing in on Drumpf” coverage because, you know, they really got him this time.
The far-left BuzzFeed claims to have two unnamed deep state law enforcement sources telling them there is proof — emails, texts, and other documents — President Trump instructed his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to perjure himself about something-something Russia building something-something deal.
Of course, this story could prove to be the exception to countless others, could prove to be true, and if it is, Trump is in serious trouble. Unless you’re Bill Clinton, obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense. But…
Here are nine reasons to be skeptical of this report:
- BuzzFeed’s Lead Reporter Is a Proven Liar
The lead reporter on the story is Jason Leopold, someone no less than Columbia Journalism Review declared a “serial fabulist.”
Hey, way to hire, Ben Smith!
- BuzzFeed’s Lead Reporter Has Published Fake Bombshell Scoops Before
In 2006, Leopold shook the world with the news that Karl Rove — get this — “told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials” he would be indicted for leaking Valerie Plame’s name to the media.
Leopold assured his readers that multiple sources “confirmed Rove’s indictment is imminent. These individuals requested anonymity saying they were not authorized to speak publicly about Rove’s situation.”
Of course, Rove was never indicted, nor was he responsible for the leak.
- BuzzFeed’s Lead Reporter Had His Own Memoir Cancelled
Fast forward to March 2005, when Leopold’s memoir, Off the Record, was set to be released. In the book, according to Howard Kurtz, Leopold says that he details his own “lying, cheating and backstabbing,” and comes clean about how he got fired from the Los Angeles Times and quit Dow Jones just before they fired him because, as he said, it “Seems I got all of the facts wrong” on a story about Enron.
Rowman & Littlefield, the book’s publisher, cancelled production just before it went to press after one of the book’s sources threatened to sue. That source, Steven Maviglio, who was a spokesman for California Governor Gray Davis, said that Leopold “just got it completely wrong” when recounting how he allegedly told Leopold that he “might have broken the law by investing in energy companies using inside information.”
- We Are Supposed to Believe Michael Cohen
Lost in all the hype over this story is the fact that the source of the allegation against Trump can only be Michael Cohen, who has already pled guilty and will be going to prison for, among other things, lying.
- Why Would Trump Ask Cohen to Lie When Don Jr. Told the Truth?
Thanks to the media’s previous bombshell report on this very same subject, a report that proved — like all the others — to be fake news, when the president’s own son, Donald Trump Jr., testified before congress on this Russia deal, he told the truth, he told congress that this particular Russia deal stayed alive (in some nebulous form) until June of 2016.
But now we’re supposed to believe that, even though his own son told the truth, Trump still instructed Cohen to lie — to testify the Russian deal died six months earlier, in January of 2016.
Why would Trump accept all the legal and political risks of instructing his attorney to lie when his son told the truth?
This just doesn’t make sense.
In fact, the best way to get caught in a lie is to offer up competing stories.
- BuzzFeed Reporter Admits He’s Seen No ‘Evidence Supporting Our Report’
The second reporter on the BuzzFeed story (the one who is not Stephen Glass 2.0) told the far-left CNN Friday that neither he nor Leopold have “personally” seen any evidence to back up their “bombshell” that is really for real closing the walls in on Trump this time.
“Have you seen any of that corroborating evidence.”
“No, not personally.”
Okay, then.
UPDATE: Stop the presses! That Leopold guy is calling his reporting partner a liar. He told MSNBC he has seen documents.
Nothing juices my confidence in reporting like reporters who cannot keep their story straight.
- Why Would BuzzFeed’s Sources Not Show Them ‘Corroborating Evidence?’
So BuzzFeed’s two deep state law enforcement sources allege there is evidence proving Trump suborned perjury — texts, emails, documents, transcripts with other witnesses within the Trump organization — but BuzzFeed’s sources didn’t bother to back up this wild claim by showing these reporters any of this?
All this proof in the form of emails and texts and no one bothers to– oh, wait…
- Uhm, Trump Doesn’t Use Email or Texts
Trump is famous for refusing to use texts and emails. So how can the smoking guns be texts and emails?
See how none of this makes sense…
A guy who has spent his life avoiding putting anything down in writing would break that rule to obstruct justice, to commit a felony?
Other than texts and emails from Trump himself, whose texts or emails would corroborate such a thing?
- This Is the 657th Bombshell Certain to Get Trump Impeached
Not this shit again.
From my count, this is the gabillionth time a left-wing news outlet went ahead and ran an unverified anti-Trump bombshell based on deep state sources… And let’s not forget that all the ones that came before were either eventually exposed as fake news or Notherburgers sold as something else.
What’s more, even though the rest of the media have yet to independently corroborate the BuzzFeed report, they are still running amok with it. We now live in a media world where the guy who moderates Meet The Press is so excited he decided to light himself on fire this morning: “NBC News has not yet confirmed the BuzzFeed report. But if true — and if Mueller does have the receipts — why is this news significant?”
“If true.”
“Has not yet confirmed.”
Here’s an idea…
How about if you wake me when you have a smoking gun that is not clenched in the fist of a bitter deep stater who refuses to show that smoking gun to a “serial fabulist” working for a partisan racket like BuzzFeed?
In the meantime, ZZZZzzzzzz *snort* zzzzzzz….
Then again, the story could be true.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.