“Former national security officials…”
In the hyperventilated coverage following The Washington Post’s claim that President Trump disclosed classified information to Russia, easily missed was the word “former”. The mainstream media finally slipped up.
Where would a “former national security official” come from? Not from the Trump administration.
In theory maybe it could be a Clinton or George W Bush official, but for the information to have any real sense of credibility it would have to come from a more contemporary national security official. An Obama administration national security official.
Obama’s administration is the most recent of the former administrations.
As far as who specifically that “former” official could be, if we lived in a day and age of true investigative journalism some prospective Woodward or Bernstein would be peeling back the layers and unraveling the whole thing.
Since we don’t live in an era of real journalism anymore, I’ll sum things up:
• A former name-brand figure in the Obama administration contacted the Washington Post with the claim.
• The claim itself was either dubious or derived from improperly obtained classified information. (After all, how does the Washington Post know the information is classified when, as a media organization, they aren’t supposed to know classified things).
• Information dutifully passed from an ex-Obama big wig to the Washington Post, the Democrats went immediately with a press release within minutes of the Post story breaking.
• The media has predictably treated the whole thing as though it were the biggest story of a generation.
In fact, the bigger story is the pattern the trajectory of this story illustrates for us.
The Obama administration was doing this same sort of thing while in power. Sneak information they weren’t supposed to have to a media all too complicit with the administration’s agenda and let the ensuing food fight drive public opinion.
What ought to be demanded is:
• The name or names of the former officials involved in giving out information to the Washington Post.
• Review of that information to determine whether it was classified, how a former official obtained potentially classified information, and whether the Post received classified information.
Image: CCO; Public Domain; https://pixabay.com/en/falling-easter-mess-easter-basket-335295/
