Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
In a move that stunned many members of the media, on Thursday night Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia probe due to Jeff Sessions’ recusal and who earlier this week confirmed only he has authority to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, released an unorthodox statement to be “skeptical about anonymous allegations” following the relentless barrage of news reports emerging from the WaPo and the NYT about the evolving probe into Russia’s “election interference” and possible collusion with Trump, all based on “anonymous sources.”
Image: Rod Rosenstein
“Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous ‘officials,’ particularly when they do not identify the country — let alone the branch or agency of government — with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated. Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations.
Rosenstein, who many had seen as a Trump foil at the DOJ, did not cite specific reports. The DOJ released Rosenstein’s statement after 9 p.m., shortly after The Washington Post reported that the special counsel was investigating the business dealings of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. That report was attributed to unnamed American officials.
As we said, the media and punditry was “stunned” by the official statement: the NYT’ Maggie Haberman said “Have literally never seen a statement like this.” The new leader of the Trump “resistance”, Preet Bharara also chimed in, tweeting “Americans should also exercise caution before accepting as true lies about firing of FBI Director & defamation of a war hero special counsel.”
Americans should also exercise caution before accepting as true lies about firing of FBI Director & defamation of a war hero special counsel pic.twitter.com/KQUPpppcAI
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) 16 June 2017
To be expected, Rosenstein – who the media was ambivalent about and following his recent testimony in which he said there was “no grounds” to fire Mueller, praised – promptly became the latest pariah for insinuating that the media’s Trump reportage may be, in fact, fake news.
As the NYT reported this morning, the “statement aligned with the president’s open frustration with unflattering leaks. Mr. Trump has called stories about the investigation “fake news” and complained on Twitter about a Washington Post report on Wednesday night that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, was investigating the president himself for possible obstruction of justice. That story was also attributed to unnamed sources, as was a New York Times article that same evening about Mr. Mueller’s request for interviews with three top intelligence officials.”
What to make of Rosenstein’s statement?
On one hand, it could be seen as a validation of Trump’s repeated allegations that much of what has emerged in press in recent weeks is “fake news.” On the other, as some in the media suggested, it could be an attempt to “chill” communications and leaks to the press. Yet others saw this as a preview of what may be another upcoming story. As Bloomberg’s Jennifer Epstein who said “If this statement is preemptive: oh, boy, is the story going to be explosive.”
If this statement is preemptive: oh, boy, is the story about going to be explosive.
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) 16 June 2017
Trump has yet to tweet his approval of Rosenstein’s comment, although moments ago he did tweet the following:
After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my “collusion with the Russians,” nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 16 June 2017
He followed up by tweeting “The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media – over 100 million people! I can go around them”
The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media – over 100 million people! I can go around them
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 16 June 2017
A huge part of the problem facing humanity in terms of war and deprivation on this planet is the Jew cabal quad of Israel and the UNSC Jew 3 of the US, UK & France where combined over 90% of the planet’s Jews live, after they’ve been kicked out or banned from much of the rest of the planet for their crime and anti-social behavior, and who are the carriers and human shields for the evil anti Christain, anti golden rule, anti humanitarian, supremacist Talmud cult cabal that is orchestrating and responsible for so many of the problems on this planet.
The Russian investigation is a diversion from investigating Israel, AIPAC and other Talmud cult cabal operations against the American people. Interfering in our government, stealing technology and nuclear material, running highly invasive espionage operations and a host of other RICO crimes. These parasites need to be cleaned out of the US government, media and financial sectors.
Its a theatre of the absurd. Russian “interference” is non-existant yet the media goes hysterical every time a new (anonymous) allegation is made, while Zionist-Jewish influence is all-pervasive and has a stranglehold on Capitol Hill, yet the media pretend its all just an “anti-semitic conspiracy theory”….
How the F do USans cope with this depth of mendacious BS?…..
For those of us who have a front row seat, I was born in Washington, DC and now live in the Seattle area, I started coping with the msm by turning off the TV 30 years ago. I have one in my motel room that I’ve rented for the last 3 years, and have the TV hutch doors closed and a Christmas stocking hanging in front of the closed doors year round like it was from a fire place mantle in the house that I grew up in. The TV in the hutch has never been turned on once. I haven’t bought a newspaper in years and get my media from a six screen trading computer that I use for forex trading.
Many Americans completely agree with your sentiments, and I’m one of them. Which is why Trump and America First won the primaries with record landslides against Jew world order establishment candidates, and won the majority of the votes in 85% of the counties in the general election. Outside of some major coastal populations centers, Hillary did very poorly. Despite massively outspending Trump.