When the “dossier” was made public, it didn’t seem right. Its 35 pages suggested then President-Elect Donald Trump had engaged in a bizarre sex act with prostitutes in Russia. It also charged that then Trump fixer Michael Cohen met with Russian operatives in Prague — a claim Cohen rebutted.
It was Jan. 11, 2017 when I first saw the document, as Trump held his first news conference after winning the 2016 election. Trump was furious that Buzzfeed had published what we now know was Democrat-funded misinformation to skew the 2016 election.
Jeff Gerth wrote a sharp, long look in Columbia Journalism Review about the big, bad story. I link to Part One here. There are four parts. RealClearInvestigation’s Mark Hemingway has written on the series here.
Quoth Hemingway on the polarization that followed bad journalism:
The result is that the shoddy reporting during Trump’s presidency contributed heavily to the frenzied and distrustful atmosphere that undermined Americans’ faith in elections, shook the very foundations of the Republic, and has left us all worried about political stability in the future.
From the get-go, I was highly skeptical of the “dossier” and Russian-collusion narratives, even as I spoke to a number of national security types who believed what they wanted to believe and did not let lack of evidence stand in their way. What I read seemed way too amateurish. But, some pros assured me, damning information to nail the story was imminent. (All you had to do was believe.)
They were wrong, but they were able to point to Trump’s man crush on Putin, and that emboldened them.
An example:
Asked about the DNC hacks by reporters at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort on July 27, (Trump) said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the thirty thousand emails that are missing.” The quip was picked up everywhere. Clinton national-security aide Jake Sullivan quickly seized on the remarks, calling them “a national-security issue.” The comment became a major exhibit over the next several years for those who believed Trump had an untoward relationship with Russia. Clinton’s own Russia baggage, meantime, began to fade into the background.
It was a feeding frenzy. I saw it after John McCain named Sarah Palin to be his running mate. And I saw it during the first years of Trump’s presidency.
When I talked to colleagues about what I saw as problems in the Russian-collusion story, some looked at me as if I had violated some sort of code. I saw glances of pity.
Now they must taste the ashes.
We all make mistakes — they’re just bigger mistakes when they’re born in a pack mentality. And they win Pulitzers.
Debra J. Saunders is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.