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Is This Journalism?
Who can adequately explain the abject loss of journalistic standards when it comes to Russia-gate?
For Isikoff and Corn, as for other erstwhile serious journalists, there should be more crow than ham or turkey to eat in the weeks ahead.
Others come to mind: Jane Mayer of The New Yorker; James Risen, formerly of The New York Times; and lesser lights like McClatchy's Greg Gordon; Marcy Wheeler, Amy Goodman's go-to Russia-gate pundit at emptywheel.net; and extreme-partisan Democrat Marc Ash, who runs Reader Supported News.
Many had pinned their hopes on Trump's 24-day national security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, to supply grist for the "collusion" mill. That increased when word came he'd met 19 times with Mueller's investigators as a cooperative witness.
Yet, something didn't gel. Prosecutors said they'd go light on Flynn.
In (and Out) Like Flynn
Philip Ewing, the apparent odd-man-out at National Public Radio, observed Saturday: "Does that sound like the attitude they [the prosecutors] would take with someone who had been serving as a Russian factotum and who had been serving as a foreign agent from inside the White House as national security adviser, steps away from the Oval Office?"
Flynn was supposed to be sentenced for lying to the FBI on Tuesday. By afternoon, however, Federal District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan postponed the sentencing until at least March. The judge said he was "disgusted" by Flynn's "very serious" crimes but later apologized from the bench for asking whether his actions might have been treasonous.
He gave Flynn the option of delaying sentencing until he had completed his cooperation with federal prosecutors, and Flynn agreed. But Sullivan remained adamant that Flynn could still end up in jail. If His Honor takes the time to read Professor Jonathan Turley, of the George Washington University Law School, about Comey-endorsed FBI tactics -- and not confine his reading solely to the Washington Post -- it seems a safe bet he will give Flynn a stay-out-of jail card.
In an early morning tweet Tuesday, Trump wished Flynn good luck and commented: "Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion." How can one interpret this? Either Mueller and his score of investigators were unable to get Flynn to spill the beans on collusion or -- could it be possible? -- there are no beans to spill.
Hold That Line
As for Isikoff and Corn, their profession -- such as it is these days -- can be expected to circle the wagons and give them the immunity granted 15 years ago to the faux-journalists who pushed the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) deception so hard -- even after no WMD were found in Iraq.
Indeed, in recent days The New York Times and Washington Post have launched what looks like a stepped-up pre-emptive attack, lest readers start to doubt their rendering of Russia-gate. The headlines and the drivel that follow have been caricatures of journalism.
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