TRUTH TRUCK

ANATOMY OF A FAKE NEWS BOMBSHELL: WAPO AND PHILIP BUMP CAUGHT PEDDLING FICTITIOUS FACTS ON RUSSIAN CONTACT WITH JEFF SESSIONS - ASSIST FROM ABC NEWS IN BURYING SESSIONS’ PUBLIC DISCLOSURE PRIOR TO SENATE TESTIMONY.

The fraudulent story broke in the Washington Post on March 1, 2017 with the following headline: “Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose.” Despite the rabid attention this received by virtually every major news outlet, the WAPO headline is utterly fake according to a little known - but crucial – fact, apparently sourced to a Department of Justice contact by ABC News on March 2nd.

Unfortunately, it now appears that the ABC news team conspired to bury this crucial fact with intentionally deceptive writing and a complete lack of analysis.

Had anyone in the media stopped hyperventilating long enough to do their job properly, rational consideration of the obscured ABC bombshell fact would have killed the story dead on arrival, no later than March 3rd. AG Sessions’ premature recusal may never have happened, a terrible blight on his reputation could have been avoided, and the integrity of the Office of the Attorney General would have been protected.

As the nation is well aware of by now, Jeff Sessions had two contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, an informal meet and greet after Sessions gave a speech at a side event of the RNC Convention on July 20, 2016, and a formal meeting in his Senate Office with Kislyak on Sept, 8, 2016. Then, on Jan. 10, 2016, Sessions testified before the Senate for his confirmation as Attorney General, where he told Sen. Franken he had no communications with the Russians in replying to a question specifically concerned with alleged Trump Campaign connections to Russia.

WAPO then set off the fake firestorm on March 1^st, alleging - in the headline quoted above - that Sessions failed to disclose the meetings prior to his Senate testimony. However, we now know – according to ABC News – that Sessions did, in fact, list the Sept. 8 official meeting with the Russian envoy on his public schedule. 

  

WAPO followed the fugazi story up on March 2d with more fakery, publishing bogus analysis by Philip Bump that falsely indicated Sessions met the Russian envoy on July 18th, at a different side event where the hot topic was Russian diplomacy and the Ukraine.

We now know that Bump’s analysis and facts were wrong, and also that he had absolutely no reason to believe his report was ever based in truth. The back-to-back fraudulent WAPO pieces ignited a firestorm that led to calls for Sessions to resign and also for him to be prosecuted for perjury. Now we shall dismantle this fake news story, brick by brick.

1. The September 8^TH meeting with Russian Ambassador Kislyak was previously disclosed on Senator Sessions’ public schedule.

On March 2, 2017, a report, published at 12:31 AM by Pierre Thomas (Senior Justice Correspondent for ABC News) and Adam Kelsey, indicated that Sessions had disclosed the Sept 8 meeting in his public schedule. Incredibly, the previous public disclosure - a crucial fact - still remains hidden to the public as the entire press corps in analyzing the issue soundly ignored it.

This is largely the result of reporters Thomas and Kelsey having conveniently muddied their story up as the fire was kindling across the nation in the public conscience. This is how the ABC news team put it out there in the wee hours of March 2d:

"But Sessions did have contact with Russia on two occasions, including a meeting in his office with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in September that was listed on his public schedule."

Notice that the crucial fact is not sourced to anyone. So it’s fair to assume one or both of the ABC reporters saw the schedule for themselves. It's not entirely clear from their report whether the meeting was disclosed by Sessions in his public schedule, or by Kislyak in his.

This confusion - and lack of any analysis whatsoever - obscured the crucial fact, allowing the story to fester throughout the March 1-2 news cycle. Had anyone stopped to consider that the Sept. 8 meeting had been disclosed on a public schedule prior to the Jan. 10^th confirmation hearing, then there would have been no sensational – previously undisclosed – cloak and dagger headlines possible.

The unseemly plot truly thickens later that evening. At 9:30 PM, on March 2d, about 21 hours after Pierre Thomas and Adam Kelsey first nebulously reported the crucial fact; fellow ABC News reporters Meghan Keneally and Mike Levine provided more details:

"A Department of Justice official said on Wednesday night that Sessions had two contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak - one with members of his staff on Sept. 8 (which was listed on his public schedule) and one after giving a speech to the Heritage Foundation in July."

This follow up confirms that the September 8th meeting was, in fact, disclosed on Sessions' public schedule. We know from Attorney General Sessions’ recusal press conference that the meeting between him and Kislyak in his Senate office was attended by at least two of his staffers, both retired army colonels. So the follow up report by Keneally and Levine, does, in fact, indicate that the meeting was listed on Sessions’ public schedule, not Kislyak’s.

Unfortunately (and apparently intentionally), their use of parentheses in the quote muddies the analysis; in that it’s not absolutely clear whether Keneally and/or Levine saw the Sept 8^th meeting “listed on his public schedule” for themselves, or if the sourced DOJ official told them about it, or both.

Despite a Washington D.C. desk ABC News staffer having confirmed to me that my questions on this issue were passed on to Pierre Thomas and Adam Kelsey last week, they have not replied. I also reached out to Meghan Kennealy, and I left a voicemail for Adam Levine last week, asking for clarification of the facts as to the “public schedule”. Neither replied.

Just about an hour before Keneally and Levine published the ABC follow up, PBS NEWSHOUR issued a report by Erica Hendry at 8:22 PM, March 2d, 2016, wherein they published an official list of meetings Sessions had with ambassadors in 2016. It includes the Sept. 8 meeting with Kislyak and it is sourced directly to the Department of Justice:

Knowing that Sessions had included the Sept 8 meeting with the Russian Ambassador on his public schedule would have dampened the story tremendously. Allegations implying Sessions had covered the meeting up would have been rendered obsolete, ending the fake news hype.

That ABC News managed to float this crucial fact out twice - during the most heated moments of the Sessions/Russia firestorm - without even one news outlet discussing it, appears now to be either, a miracle, or an understatement of very intelligent design.

Shame on you, ABC. You had “the news” that mattered most to the American people in your hands, and you muddied it up to protect a false narrative. President Trump and his staff are obliged and justified in calling you the opposition party. You are the very definition of fake news.

2. Philip Bump published knowingly false analysis for The Washington Post regarding the informal meet and greet between Sessions and the Russian Ambassador at an RNC Convention Side Event in July 2016.

On March 2, 2016 Philip Bump published proveably false analysis for the Washington Post. Bump’s follow up to the initial March 1st WAPO report carried this headline: “What Jeff Sessions said about Russia, and when.” In it, he goes over the timeline of events, stopping at July 18:

“July 18. On the first day of the Republican National Convention, the Heritage Foundation hosted a panel conversation addressing European relations that was attended by a number of ambassadors. ‘Much of the discussion focused on Russia’s incursions into Ukraine and Georgia,’ moderator Victor Ashe later wrote, adding that ‘[s]everal ambassadors asked for names of people who might impact foreign policy under Trump.’

This appears to be the event after which Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak approached Sessions as part of a small group of foreign dignitaries. Sessions, The Post reports, “then spoke individually to some of the ambassadors, including Kislyak.’”

Bunk. Had Bump done proper research before publishing this fake analysis, he would have found one of two different official schedules available online at archive.org, where both had been uploaded on December 30, 2016, by “Smileyhill”. (See below pic, bottom right hand corner.)

One of the schedules was prepared for the Global Partners In Diplomacy (GPID) conference, an official multi-day event planned in conjunction with the State Department for all of the foreign diplomats set to attend the RNC Convention. The other schedule also listed the Sessions GPID event as part of a more general RNC Convention schedule.

Had Bump been more interested in facts than targeted false innuendo, he might have found one, or both, of those schedules by doing a simple web search. They had both been posted to archive.org more than two months prior to Bump’s March 2d analysis. Both schedules state quite clearly that Jeff Sessions was invited to give a speech at a luncheon for the GPID event on July 20, 2016, at the Tinkham Veale University Center at Case Western University, not at the Victor Ashe event on July 18th.

Here is a pic from the GPID official schedule:

And here is a pic from the general RNC schedule, also uploaded by Smileyhill on Dec. 30, 2016:

Former US Ambassador Victor Ashe moderated a panel that was also listed on both schedules as taking place on July 19^th at a different venue, the Landerhaven catering hall. We know from a “Delegate Diary” report written by Victor Ashe for the Knoxville News Sentinel on July 19^th, that his event was moved up to July 18^th.

Philip Bump selectively parses from the News Sentinel article in creating his false analysis attempting to frame Sessions into a discussion of Russian foreign policy as to the invasion of Ukraine. Obviously, had Sessions actually been there with the Russian Ambassador for a panel on that topic, it would have provided ammunition for the charges against Sessions regarding non-disclosure and perjury before the Senate in answering the Franken question.

This is why Bump fails to quote Victor Ashe’s News Sentinel report in full. Doing so would have made clear that Sessions was not on the panel, did not speak at the event, and was not mentioned by Ashe as having attended it. Here is everything Ashe published about his panel:

“On Monday morning, I chaired a panel on Europe and trans-Atlantic relations for visiting foreign ambassadors in Cleveland. The event was sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. Many of the same ambassadors will be in Philadelphia for next week's Democratic National Convention. More than 80 ambassadors are here out of a possible 183 accredited to the United States.

On the panel were Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, former Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky and Herman Pirchner, president of the American Foreign Policy Council.

Much of the discussion focused on Russia's incursions into Ukraine and Georgia. The unanswered question was what the world will look like on Jan. 20, 2017 when GOP nominee Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton becomes the 45th president.

Several ambassadors asked for names of people who might impact foreign policy under Trump. To be honest, the panelists could only guess and speculate with the name of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee being the three names mentioned for secretary of state.”

Philip Bump links to this very article in his WAPO smear that I quoted above, so it is particularly egregious that he fails to mention Victor Ashe not including Sessions anywhere in his diary of the event. Bump is such a villain for this purposeful neglect. Does he not think readers would benefit from such information? Or is he simply protecting his readers from the truth?

There’s no mention whatsoever of Sessions attending the Victor Ashe event in the report published by Ashe in the Knoxville Sentinel News. Bump simply inserted him at that event right from his own imagination. That is fiction, not analysis, not news. Pure fiction. Hey presto, if you don’t have facts to support your position, just make them up. The partisans won’t mind.

Are you starting to get the picture? Bump, WAPO and ABC knew the truth would come out eventually, but they were living in the moment, and the moment was about hurting AG Sessions and President Trump, not about getting the story right.

Why didn’t Philip Bump pick up the expensive phone provided for him by WAPO and call Victor Ashe, Tom Marino, Paula Dobriansky, Herman Pirchner or the Heritage Foundation people to ask them if Sessions was there? Because Philip Svengali Bump knew damn well Sessions wasn’t there. Bump was forwarding the story, whipping up the masses, working his magic upon the world, a true sorcerer for his time.

Now he’s once again busted, disgraced, outworked, and his ilk will be rendered impotent soon enough. They are destroying the fourth estate. Nobody is helping them do it. They are menace.

As for the actual, so called “meeting” on July 20^th at Tinkham Veale University Center for the GPID event Sessions did attend and speak at, we now have a very detailed eyewitness account from two men who were actually there.

They published their account on March 12^th at Newenglishreview.org, featuring photos from the event, including one of Jeff Sessions at the lectern. The authors are John Hajjar and Hossein Khorram. Please read their full in depth eyewitness report. It completely exonerates Jeff Sessions by cogently explaining that there was no opportunity for a genuine “meeting” between Sessions and the Russian Ambassador to have taken place. The headline is, “Trump Advisors Were Smeared, We Can Testify to the Facts.” Here is the relevant part:

“In July, we (John Hajjar, co-chair of the Middle East American Coalition for Trump (AMCT) and Hossein Khorram, Delegate to the Republican National Convention and a member of the AMCT), attended the day-long event at Case Western University in Cleveland along with a number of our community leaders. We were seated near Trump advisors including Joseph Schmidt, George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Admiral Bert Mizusawa, Dr. Walid Phares, and Sessions’ campaign national security aide, JD Gordon. This event was also attended by dozens of ambassadors, diplomats, campaign leaders, The Heritage Foundation, NGOs, media representatives, as well as guest speakers and Obama State Department officials. There were two panels and one key note speaker, Senator Sessions. He spoke to the audience, then mingled and shook hands on his way out. Many had taken their pictures with him before he left the event. We did not see him ‘meet’ with the Russian ambassador at that event either. As was the case at the Mayflower, again there were no spaces visible for private meetings. He came in and he went out. Period.

What some in the media have described as “meetings between Sessions and the Russian ambassador” during the Cleveland and National Interest events is utter fabrication. It never happened, as far as we saw on the ground.”

This first alleged contact between Sessions and Kislyak was a total non-event in full view of a gaggle of ambassadors, diplomats, and “media representatives”, set up by the Obama State Department.

All of the foreign dignitary attendees were fully disclosed to the world no later than March 21st, when Anita McBride posted a picture to her Twitter feed featuring all of the GPID dignitaries taken together at Tinkham Veale University Center. You can see Russian Ambassador Kislyak in the photo (2d top row, on the aisle to the right of the image).

Note that Paul Ryan was the keynote speaker for GPID that day at Tinkham Veale, July 21^st, yet there seems to be no controversy there. Chris Christie and many others addressed this group as well. It was an Obama administration, state sponsored conference, not a clandestine cold war era scandal. Even media reps were on hand.

Sessions’ key note speech, followed by a goofy meet and greet has been turned into something sinister by the fake news corps. Nobody could seriously call Sessions and Kislyak crossing paths here to have been a “previously undisclosed” meeting.

Both contacts between Sessions and Kislyak were previously disclosed to the public, to the Senate, and to the Obama administration prior to Sessions’ confirmation hearing testimony before the Senate on January 10, 2017. The fake news corps simply chose not to report it. Instead, they did the opposite, changed the facts, muddied the water, and gorged themselves sucking the very blood from the carcass of the fourth estate.

There was no perjury, and there was no real story, so the fake news brigade hive mind created one out of thin air. The Washington Post, Philip Bump and ABC are fake news pyromaniacs who must be disgraced. This story deserves the fake news award of the year, so it will most likely garner Pulitzers for everyone involved.

The media are destroying the 1s Amendment by parsing the words “free press” for permission to flat out lie. The Washington Post are propaganda agents of the deep state. Always remember though, that there are two deep states. The dark side and the light.

Written and researched by Bill Ette, J.D.