Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War Over the Truth by Howard Kurtz

Author:Howard Kurtz [Kurtz, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: political science, Political Ideologies, Conservatism & Liberalism
ISBN: 9781621577560
Google: tO07DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2018-01-29T20:28:44.366709+00:00

CHAPTER 17

THE MEDIA GO TO DEFCON 1

The Washington Post newsroom broke into applause when the numbers flashed on the video monitor.

The Post’s explosive story on Donald Trump and Russia had just broken the clicks-per-minute record on its website, previously held by the paper’s posting of the Access Hollywood tape.

On May 15, the Post reported that during an Oval Office meeting with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador, Trump had disclosed highly classified data—dubbed “code word” information—about an ISIS terror threat involving laptops on airplanes.

The information was so sensitive that the Post withheld most details of the plot at the urging of federal officials, and senior White House aides contacted the CIA and NSA to discuss the possible fallout.

The White House press team moved quickly. Raised voices were heard as Steve Bannon met with Sean Spicer and his staff in the Cabinet room. H. R. McMaster, the new national security adviser (and someone that the White House told the Weekly Standard that Trump held in high esteem, precisely because there were leaks that he didn’t—that he lectured Trump and lacked rapport with him), was tapped to read a statement.

The blunt general did his duty. McMaster said the Washington Post story was “false,” that he had been in the room, and that “at no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed.” The article, however, hadn’t said that sources or methods were compromised, although the leak could have led to that. It was, in journalistic parlance, a nondenial denial.

The paper acknowledged that no law had been broken because the president has the power to declassify information. But the story’s obvious news value was enormously amplified because it played into a larger media narrative: that Trump would do anything to help the Russians. That Trump was too unsophisticated to grasp the nuances of intelligence matters. That Trump was a danger to national security.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times snarked on Twitter about “Reported fact-chain: 1) Comey requests more $ for Russia probe 2) Trump cans Comey 3) Trump invites Russians to Oval, divulges state secrets.” Even if he hadn’t included the debunked story about Comey having asked for more resources, the tweet conveyed a reporter’s view that Trump was an unwitting tool for Moscow.

Less than twenty-four hours later, the Times quoted from a James Comey memo, read by an unnamed associate, saying the president had suggested to him that he drop the Michael Flynn investigation: “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

The media went to DEFCON 1.

The instant consensus was that this was an obstruction of justice, a scandal of Watergate proportions: the president was trying to pressure his FBI director to stop an investigation of his former national security adviser’s ties to Russia. It was a slam-dunk case! Donald Trump had finally been exposed.

Joe Scarborough spoke of “a president that is increasingly isolated, increasingly enraged, and increasingly out of touch with the realities of what is required to run this office.”

Lawrence O’Donnell announced that “Donald Trump now sits at the threshold of impeachment.

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