The Washington Post’s bombshell Trump-Russia report Friday is just another example of the media placing incriminating information front and center while habitually burying mitigating information deep within the article.
The Post reports U.S. spy agencies intercepted Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak telling superiors he discussed Trump campaign related matters with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Readers, however, have to traverse eight paragraphs framing Kislyak’s account of the conversation with Sessions as demonstrably true. Some readers may come to the conclusion Sessions is guilty as charged.
It wasn’t until the ninth paragraph WaPo finally revealed:
Officials emphasized that the information contradicting Sessions comes from U.S. intelligence on Kislyak’s communications with the Kremlin, and they acknowledged that the Russian ambassador could have mischaracterized or exaggerated the nature of his interactions.
By the eleventh paragraph, the Post reported, “Russian and other foreign diplomats in Washington and elsewhere” are known “to report false or misleading information to bolster their standing with their superiors or to confuse U.S. intelligence agencies.”
WaPo’s report begins by stating, “A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had ‘substantive’ discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.”
“One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he had no recollection of an April encounter — has provided ‘misleading’ statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.”
The New York Times reported Friday that a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, “said there was nothing automatically inappropriate about Sessions, then a U.S. senator as well as a Trump supporter, discussing policy matters…”
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