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Trump Vindicated: Media Elite Turn on “Russiagate” Coverage

(Excerpt)

The entire mad media Russia mess of the Trump presidency—the furious coverage of the salacious Steele Dossier, the Mueller special counsel probe, the presidential tweets and bombast, the FBI inquiries, Congressional inquiries, inspector general inquiries, the sinister suggestions of collusion and corruption, treason and betrayal, prostitutes and pay offs has faded from the news cycle. The circus has left town.

Years too late to have any real-time impact, it now appears that a reckoning has begun to arrive. Close observers of the media landscape have noticed a shift when Washington Post Bob Woodward began reminding readers that he called the Steele Dossier a “garbage document” on Fox News as far back as 2017.

Former New York Times investigative journalist Jeff Gerth wrote a monumental takedown of media coverage of Trump, “The Press Versus the President.” a 24,000 word, four part report that will remain a landmark study of media malfeasance for decades to come.

Gerth sets important context for understanding this war. He notes that it was Hillary Clinton, not Trump, who began the campaign “facing scrutiny over Russia ties.” He details the financing and evolution of the Steele Dossier as a product of Clinton allies and hired guns, and the media’s long love affair (with a few notable dissents) with the document. He reminds us that the Steele Dossier exploded on to the media scene after Trump won the election but before he was inaugurated—setting in motion a chain of events that embittered the new president toward the press and touching off dreams of a new Watergate among legions of ambitious reporters. 

After the emergence of the Steele Dossier and a tsunami of Russia-related stories, the new president abandoned hope of getting along the media. “I realized early on I had two jobs,” Trump told Gerth in an interview after he left the presidency. “The first was to run the country, and the second was survival. I had to survive: the stories were unbelievably fake.”

Fake—but deadly serious. A special counsel probe, led by Robert Mueller, was quickly trigged and Congress began to investigate. The Mueller probe loomed over Trump for two years—a mortal threat to his presidency. The probe, Gerth notes, “issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, interviewed 500 witnesses, and generated enormous interest. There were 533,000 news articles published involving Russia and Trump or Mueller. The articles led to 245 million interactions on social media.

In the end, Trump was cleared of wrongdoing. In a lengthy report, Mueller wrote: “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government. ”No collusion. No conspiracy. Trump tweeted that the Mueller Report was a “complete and total exoneration.” But the media did not quit—or for the most part even pause for reflection.

“I’ll often sit down with hostile press,” Trump told Gerth, “just to see if it’s possible to get them to write the truth. It almost never works.”

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• Micah Morrison is chief investigative reporter for Judicial Watch. Read it all HERE
• Jeff Gerth's 4 Part Report can be read HERE

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Governor DeSantis Introduces Groundbreaking Legislation to Protect the Digital Rights and Privacy of All Floridians

On Wednesday, February 15, DeSantis announced his proposal to protect Floridians’ digital rights and privacy from Big Tech companies by creating a Digital Bill of Rights that focuses on protecting Floridians’ privacy, protecting minors from online harms, and eliminating unfair censorship.

The proposal also bans the use of TikTok and other social media platforms with ties to China from all state government devices, and through internet services at colleges, universities, and public schools, and prohibits state and local government employees from coordinating with Big Tech companies to censor protected speech.

This proposal is for the 2023 Florida Legislative Session that begins in March.

These executive actions and legislative proposals build upon legislation signed by Governor DeSantis in 2021 that required social media companies to be transparent about their content moderation practices, allowed the Attorney General of Florida to bring action against technology companies that violate the law under Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and prohibited the de-platforming of Floridian political candidates. 

Read the full proposal HERE.

 . Notes from the first hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The subcommittee has heard from "dozens and dozens of whistleblowers" just in the FBI, with one sitting for a transcribed interview Tuesday and many more expected to do so, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said. 

The former FBI agents and whistleblowers affirmed GOP portrayals of the bureau as increasingly politicized and centralized in D.C., running roughshod over field offices and rank and file.

• Former Miami Special Agent Nicole Parker joined the FBI from a hedge fund after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and "held out as long as I could" before leaving in disgust last fall. WATCH
• There are now "two FBIs," Parker said, citing a shift in recruiting practices and lowering of eligibility requirements that has transformed a "calling" into "merely a very dangerous and high-risk" job. Honorable agents now just "work hard and stay off the radar" to claim their pension.

The Twitter Files show the agency's mission is now "a perversion of the First Amendment."

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik slammed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and other federal agencies for their unconstitutional ‘censorship by surrogate’ and election meddling. 

. Stefanik questioned Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law Center

"Isn't it true that leading up to the 2020 election, Twitter had weekly meetings with not just the FBI, with DOJ, with DHS, with DNI to conduct this unconstitutional censorship by surrogate. We know that because of the Twitter Files, correct?” -- Mr. Turley: “Correct.” -- Watch her line of questioning here.

"The government has a long history of lying to us" and is now working through "their arms in media and Big Tech" to control what Americans can see and say, warned former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. "They think we're too stupid to think for ourselves." The ex-Democrat said America increasingly resembles a "banana republic" that threatens challenges to the establishment.

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson testified on how federal agencies tried to thwart their investigations into the Biden family's financial dealings among others and falsely portray them as "Russian stooges," including through misleading leaks. The 89-year-old Iowa Republican railed against the FBI, media and Democrats as a "triad of disinformation and outright falsehoods."

 

Watch & Read More @ 

• House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is currently taking transcribed testimony from FBI whistleblowers about the political targeting within the Dept. of Justice. (LINK).

• The House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, also chaired by Jim Jordan, has to narrow the focus on which of the myriad of examples will best highlight the issue.

On Jan. 22, MAGA Warrior Jordan told a packed Daytona Beach Ocean Center arena that he was going to hold the DOJ & FBI to account. 

Click on image to hear his Feb 7 update

• The U.S. government weaponization of the FBI is clear from the influence operations in elections, to the hiding of the Hunter Biden laptop, to the targeting of parents at school board meetings, to the entirety of what is evident in the Twitter files,  domestic social media operations and even the FBI activity in the J6 events.

• The FBI issues are widespread and clearly visible. However, the scale of this corruption remains mostly hidden because mainstream media won't report on it. That's about to change.

• The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has scheduled their first committee hearing for Thursday, February 9th at noon [LINK]. 

... for those at the Department of Injustice

Click to watch

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan  joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the new subcommittee’s agenda

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In front of a live audience at Volusia Top Gun