NY Times Belatedly Admits Error In Not Reporting Trump-Russia Connections

Liz Spayd has issued another apologia for the NY Times in yet another attempt to belatedly absolve the “newspaper of record” from yet another incomprehensible and irresponsible editorial decision. Previously, Spayd was forced to admit that the Times excessive focus on ethical improprieties at the Clinton that reporters continued to imply but never were able to substantiate or document was “not good journalism” but was the result of “journalists losing perspective on a line of reporting they’re heavily invested in.”. As it turned out, there were never any issues with the Clinton Foundation while there was loads of illegal activity within the far smaller Trump Foundation, as Kurt Eichenwald over at Newsweek and David Farenthold at the Washington Post, who both actually did some real reporting as opposed to generic hit pieces, so aptly detailed during the campaign.

This latest apology concerns the Times’ decision to not publish stories regarding the connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. In fact, there were actually three different threads that connected Trump directly to Russia and its efforts to disrupt the election that the Times was investigating. Says Spayd, “One vein of reporting centered on a possible channel of communication between a Trump organization computer server and a Russian bank with ties to Vladimir Putin. Another source was offering The Times salacious material describing an odd cross-continental dance between Trump and Moscow. The most damning claim was that Trump was aware of Russia’s efforts to hack Democratic computers, an allegation with implications of treason.” Spayd also admits that the Times’ reporters, while never ever to find conclusive proof for any of these accusations, were able to corroborate pieces of them. In fact, the FBI essentially confirmed the existence of an investigation into a direct connection from Trump’s campaign to the Russians by asking the paper to withhold publishing a story about it. According to Spayd, “At one point, the F.B.I. was so serious about its investigation into the server that it asked The Times to delay publication. Meanwhile, reporters had met with a former British intelligence officer who was building the dossier. While his findings were difficult to confirm, Times reporting bore out that he was respected in his craft. And of his material that was checkable, no significant red flags emerged.” Yet, despite vigorous internal discussions, editor Dean Baquet refused to run any of these stories.

Spayd admits that his was a significant error, saying, “I believe a strong case can be made that The Times was too timid in its decisions not to publish the material it had.” I’m sure that is great comfort to Hillary Clinton. Moreover, Spayd clearly places the blame for the Times’ decision not to publish on influence from government officials. Although she does not name specific individuals, it is clear that James Comey was responsible for pressuring the Times not to run these stories. Says Spayd, “There is an unsettling theme that runs through The Times’s publishing decisions. In each instance, it was the actions of government officials that triggered newsroom decisions — not additional reporting or insight that journalists gained.”

In summary, the NY Times somehow got itself roped into pursuing story lines that were outlined in a Steve Bannon-funded propaganda book about the Clinton Foundation called “Clinton Cash”. That was a deal with the devil that the Times apparently committed to without any prior reporting of its own and ended up driving the relentless stories that implied corruption and pay-to-play by Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation but never uncovering any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, actual reporting by the Times’ own reporters that indicated connections between the Trump campaign and Russia were never run because the Times’ editor felt there was no “proof”.  He was assisted in this effort by the treasonous James Comey who was apparently pressuring the Times not to run these stories. At the same time, Comey was publicly commenting on the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails that turned up nothing that turned out to be illegal. And Comey topped that off with the infamous letter about the Abedin emails that effectively threw the election to Trump.