OPINION:
“Truth is essential.” Remember this clever advertising campaign launched by the New York Times in 2020? The publication flashed the tag line across screens as a reminder of the organization’s self-proclaimed passion for facts and objectivity. Ironically, this could not be further from the truth.
The most recent revelations of John Durham’s probe have exposed the treasonous tactics of Hillary Clinton and members of her 2016 presidential campaign. She spied on Donald Trump. She created the Russia probe as a ruse to protect herself. In the process, she and her senior advisors deliberately falsified information lied about doing it and offered up the misleading narrative to an anti-Trump media salivating at the prospect of taking him down.
Her actions led to establishing the now-debunked Mueller probe in 2017 that cost American taxpayers more than $32 million. No evidence of Mr. Trump or his campaign working with Russians was ever found. Ironically, her operations also indirectly established John Durham’s probe which has now found criminal material that may finally lead to her prosecution.
While it will take more time to bring Hillary and her protagonists to account the media must be admonished for its central and proactive role in propagating the patently false narratives over multiple years.
Let’s start with the New York Times. In 2018, several reporters including Matt Apuzzo, Jo Becker, Maggie Haberman, and Mark Mazzetti were awarded the Pulitzer Prize “for deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”
The Pulitzer’s statement took great strides to embellish and exalt the work of these Times reporters. The most troubling reference is rooted in the “deeply sourced” stories disseminated by the publication. While we may never know their sources, journalistic integrity prevents reporters from disclosing names, it is clear now they deliberately misled the American public.
Perhaps one primary source was Jake Sullivan, the current national security advisor to President Joe Biden. During his service to Hillary’s presidential campaign in 2016, he served as the senior foreign policy advisor and one of the chief architects linking Trump to Russia. He brazenly made claims that he knew were deceitful. He knew the information used to formulate these allegations was fabricated by Clinton’s campaign staff, lawyers and consultants.
Further, we know from resurfaced tweets among other evidence that Hillary was fully aware and directly involved in disseminating the same falsehoods. She sanctioned the lies and the actions selfishly to bolster her standing during the election and cover for her loss after.
Another likely source was Robby Mook, Hillary’s campaign manager at that time. While serving as Donald Trump’s deputy campaign chairman I remember the first instance Mr. Mook formally attacked President Trump on alleged ties with Russia. On the eve that the Democratic National Convention was set to start, Mr. Mook used an interview with CNN to make the baseless claims. What I did not know until Mr. Durham’s recent report is that these were the same claims Jake Sullivan and Michael Sussman were also circulating internally within the Clinton campaign and to federal government agencies at the same time.
Mr. Durham’s evidence is both striking and detailed. There is no doubt that the plan to smear Donald Trump was thoroughly coordinated by bad actors within the Clinton campaign and in some of our most sensitive government agencies such as the FBI and CIA.
Yet, Hillary’s plan to tie Trump to Russia would never have succeeded without enlisting the support of an eager media that ultimately failed to do its job on behalf of the American people. Instead of being held accountable for willfully and knowingly spreading untrue allegations, they were awarded cheers and accolades.
These editors and journalists did not dig deep into the sources of information or the information itself. They were not interested in finding the truth or challenging the veracity of the allegations. They did not want to listen to the other side.
For more than six years the majority of media elitists participated in a dubious campaign to target a national political candidate and then-sitting president. The media maliciously attacked dozens of others that worked for Mr. Trump, me included, without regard for the impact on us or our families. Their treacherous headlines were done out of anger and disbelief that Trump could have won the election. The Clinton campaign provided the essential ingredients, and the media eagerly baked the cake while shoving it down our mouths.
While it will take considerable work to repair the trust divide, we can start by holding these media culprits accountable. If media organizations including the New York Times are unwilling to admit their errors and bias take their Pulitzers away. The sheer magnitude of the damage done by the media’s deceitful reporting in the Russian interference investigation will reverberate in our country for years. Trust in the Fourth estate has been eroded and our democracy was weakened as a consequence.
• Rick Gates served as deputy chairman to President Trump’s successful 2016 campaign. He is the author of “Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost.” @rickwgates.
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