The media found themselves stumbling over old, discredited talking points Thursday as they attempted to keep the Trump-Russia narrative afloat on Morning Joe. At a press conference in Poland, President Trump referenced how the story of seventeen intel agencies supporting the claims of Russian hacking had been debunked. As a result, faux Republican, Joe Scarborough, was forced to do damage control with veteran Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. When asked to comment on the President's statements, Ignatius casually dismissed them and declared the criticism to be nothing more than, “a silly technical point.”
Ignatius then proceeded to attack the President’s “bland, defensive performance” at the conference while expressing great trepidation over what the next few days would bring. In speaking about Trump’s upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin he wailed,“You just have to hope that he is better prepared for that meeting than the comments in Poland would have indicated.”
The full exchange went as follows:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: But, it's all, David Ignatius, it's all personal with him. We tried to talk about it yet yesterday. Even if you do not believe that Russia had an impact on the outcome of the 2016 election, but still tried to interfere with the election, Donald Trump simply cannot admit one because he thinks it undercuts his election. How about clearing this up for our viewers. Donald Trump says that the intel communities did not all come out saying that Russia tried to interfere in our elections. What can you tell us on Thursday, July 6th, 2017 about what we know based on our intel communities on what Russia did in the 2016 elections?
DAVID IGNATIUS: The Director of National Intelligence who represents the 17 different agencies issued a statement in October, very specifically blaming Russia for this meddling in our election. He spoke for all the agencies he has. It is true that the specialized intelligence of that Russian actions, planning, had been gathered by only several of those agencies, but he was speaking as they say in the church ex cathedra. So I think that's sort of a silly technical point. Watching Trump's bland defensive performance in Poland, you would not know that he is heading toward what I think will be the most fateful couple of days of his presidency so far.
We have a real life crisis now with North Korea. And the President's ability to respond to it creatively, firmly, wisely, is going to be crucial, literally, for war and peace in Northwest Asia. And you just have to hope that he is better prepared for that meeting than the comments in Poland would have indicated. He's going to need to work with Russia, so the idea of not closing the door to Russia makes some sense. He's going to need to work with China with Japan with all the neighbors. In answer to your question, Joe, the simple thing that he should have said was there is a special council investigating this matter, Robert Mueller, a highly respected former FBI director and I'm going to leave the judgment about precisely what happened to him. That would be a good answer.
SCARBOROUGH: And pigs would be flying around Warsaw, circling.
It was only recently that the mainstream media very quietly began issuing corrections to the false 17 intel agencies story. This came in the wake of testimony from former National Intelligence Director, James Clapper, where he clarified that there were “three” and not “seventeen” intel agencies that had accused Russia of hacking the 2016 elections. But, that’s only a “silly technical point,” right?
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