CNN Stands by Debunked Trump Tower Meeting Story

Not only is CNN publishing fake news, they’re standing by it after it’s proven to be nonsense.

On July 27th, the “very fake news” publication published a story claiming that President Donald Trump had advance knowledge of the infamous Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer. They cited “sources with knowledge” of the issue (how specific!) in claiming that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was willing to testify to Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel.

CNN’s “bombshell” reported claimed that “Cohen alleges that he was present, along with several others, when Trump was informed of the Russians’ offer by Trump Jr. By Cohen’s account, Trump approved going ahead with the meeting with the Russians, according to sources.” One of the sources was reportedly Lanny Davis, Cohen’s lawyer.

And none of it was true. The day after the report, Cohen complained about being misquoted by the media but didn’t specifically cite the CNN report.

Trump Jr.’s adviser Andrew Surabian fired back at the report yesterday, pointing out that the Washington Post had reported that Davis “pulled back his claims that Cohen knew about the meeting in advance,” and “expressed regret for not being clearer in assertions he made to reporters.”

Trump Jr. also fired back at CNN for their bogus story:

Davis also would appear on CNN to tell them personally this Cohen “does not” have any information that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting beforehand.

And in response? CNN is standing by their story for some reason. “We stand by our story and are confident in our reporting of it,” CNN PR said in a statement over the weekend.

CNN’s Oliver Darcy also doubled down, stating “Pro-Trump websites are claiming the CNN story was a ‘lie,’ and that it’s been ‘debunked.’ They might want it to be ‘debunked,’ but it’s not. The critics don’t know who CNN’s sources were.”

Well actually, we know who at least one of CNN’s sources was, and he says the story is completely bogus.

The only source that CNN will name says the story is false – yet we’re supposed to take the word of the anonymous? No thanks.

What CNN will never report is the true story behind Trump Jr.’s meeting with that lawyer – because it was orchestrated by those looking to benefit Hillary Clinton. While the Russian lawyer (Natalia Veselnitskaya) promised Trump Jr. dirt on Hillary when pushing a mutual acquaintance to set up the meeting, she didn’t even pretend to possess that information when meeting Trump Jr. in person. And that wasn’t the only thing she lied about. In fact, setting up the meeting under false pretenses is the least sinister part of this story.

While Fusion GPS was employing Christopher Steele to compile his anti-Trump dossier, they were also working with Veselnitskaya on a separate case to defend Prevezon, a firm accused of laundering money for the Russian government. In fact, Veselnitskaya met with Fusion GPS’ co-founder Glenn Simpson the day of her meeting with Trump Jr., and the night of the day before. What could they have possibly talked about, if not the meeting? Fusion was working with Veselnitskaya to help her advance Russian interests – while employing Christopher Steele to claim that it was Trump conspiring with the Russians.

The meeting was brokered through a mutual acquaintance named Rob Goldstone. Goldstone is the publicist for Arav and Emin Agalarov (a father and son duo that Trump knew through his work with the Miss Universe competition). In the email that Goldstone sent to Trump Jr. requesting the meeting, the language seems oddly precise. In fact, the specificity of the phrasing in  Goldstone’s email appears designed to establish the case for collusion: “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump” Goldstone wrote to Trump Jr.

And that’s not the only fishy connection with Goldstone and the Agalarovs. It was during a 2013 Moscow trip for a Miss Universe pageants that Trump would stay at a Ritz-Carlton (as did the Agalarovs), which would be the location where the fictitious “golden showers” story in Christopher Steele’s dossier occurred. It’s highly likely that the “golden showers” lie originated with the Agalarovs.

I don’t think we’ll see CNN address any of these coincidences anytime soon.