Four years of leaks, misinformation, and manipulation in the construction of a conspiracy theory.
Just The News: When it comes to misinformation, disinformation and the now-disproven Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy theory, it would not have been possible without a strong dose of media support.
Here is a timeline that breaks out some important reports by — and leaks to — the news media.
March 25, 2016: Read more
Ukrainian-American operative for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Alexandra Chalupa meets with top Ukrainian officials at Ukrainian Embassy in Washington D.C. to “expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia,” according to Politico. Ukrainian embassy proceeds to work “directly with reporters researching Trump, Manafort and Russia to point them in the right directions,” according to an embassy official (though other officials later deny engaging in election-related activities).
March 30, 2016:
Chalupa briefs DNC staff on Russia ties to Manafort and Trump. Ukrainian embassy officials and Chalupa “coordinat[e] an investigation with the Hillary team” into Manafort, according to a source in Politico. This effort reportedly includes working with U.S. media.
April 2016:
Ukrainian member of parliament Olga Bielkova reportedly seeks meetings with five dozen members of U.S. Congress and reporters including former New York Times reporter Judy Miller, David Sanger of New York Times, David Ignatius of Washington Post, and Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt.
Week of April 6, 2016:
Chalupa begins working with investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, according to her later account.
April 26, 2016:
Isikoff publishes story on Yahoo News about Manafort’s business dealings with a Russian oligarch.
April 27, 2016:
The BBC publishes an article titled, “Why Russians Love Donald Trump.”
April 28, 2016:
Chalupa is invited to discuss her research about Manafort with 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine at Library of Congress for Open World Leadership Center, a U.S. congressional agency. Chalupa invites Isikoff to “connect(s) him to the Ukrainians.” After the event, Isikoff accompanies Chalupa to Ukrainian embassy reception.
May 3, 2016:
Chalupa emails DNC that she’ll share sensitive info about Paul Manafort “offline” including “a big Trump component that will hit in next few weeks.”
May 4, 2016:
Trump locks up Republican nomination. more
I rejected the whole notion from day one as complete nonsense as it was only logical that Putin would prefer the corrupt leftist squish, Hillary Clinton, to Trump. It’s the only strategy that would make sense for the commies. Shit. They rolled obama easily.
We’ve been dragged down a rabbit hole of illogic, forced to listen to detailed refutations of an endless series of lies ginned up by the likes of Schiff, Schumer, Pelosi, and their media mouthpieces.