Bob Woodward: ‘Russian Dossier’ on Trump a ‘Garbage Document’
Woodward: by briefing on basis of dossier, intel chiefs made a ‘mistake’ and should ‘apologize’
When it comes to experience in evaluating the quality of leaked allegations, it’s hard to beat Bob Woodward of Watergate/Deep Throat fame.
So attention must be paid to what Woodward said on today’s Fox News Sunday about the so-called Russia dossier on Donald Trump. Woodward called it a “garbage document.” For good measure, Woodward said the intelligence chiefs made a “mistake” in briefing on the basis of the dossier, and should “apologize.”
Note: check the beginning of the video clip, where Nancy Pelosi gets in a nasty little dig, saying “I’ve always wondered, what did Russia have on Donald Trump?” So not only does Pelosi implicitly accept the scurrilous allegations as true, her implication would seem to be that Trump is being blackmailed by the perfidious Russkies.
DONALD TRUMP: A thing like that should never have been had, and it should certainly never have been released.
NANCY PELOSI: I always wondered what did Russia have on Donald Trump?
. . .
CHRIS WALLACE: Bob, what do you think, and this is something we discussed with both of our guests, of the way that the intelligence community handled the so-called Russia dossier, and overall, how do you think of the way they’ve handled Donald Trump?
BOB WOODWARD: I think what’s underreported here is Trump’s point of view on it. And you laid it out: when those former CIA people said these things about Trump, that he was a recruited agent of the Russians —
WALLACE: — a useful fool
WOODWARD: — yeah, and a useful fool. I mean, they started this in Trump’s mind, he knows the old adage, once a CIA man, always a CIA man. And no one came out and said those people shouldn’t be saying things. So then act two is the briefing when this dossier is put out.
I’ve lived in this world for 45 years, where you get things and people make allegations. That is a garbage document. It never should have been presented as part of an intelligence briefing, as you suggested, other channels have the White House counsel give it to Trump’s incoming White House counsel.
So, Trump’s right to be upset about that, and I think if you looked at the real chronology and the nature of the battle here, those intelligence chiefs who were the best we’ve had, who are terrific and have done great work, I think they made a mistake here. And when people make mistakes, they should apologize.
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Comments
It was not a “mistake”: It was intentional.
We need to stop calling anti-American and harmful-to-America actions mistakes. Obama’s stream of actions, seen to weaken America, were all called mistakes. Baloney. Obama intended to weaken America and succeeded.
Obama’s motto out of office: “Make America Hate Again.”
Trump should make a “mistake” and fire them all …
And then laughingly apologise.
Trump’s critics still have’t figured out one of the lessons of the campaign – every time someone launches an over the top accusation at him, it just makes him stronger when it gets shot down. AND it makes it easy for people to ignore anything he does which might actually be objectionable.
I don’t think they will ever learn. I don’t think they want to.
Nothing spells success like greeting your new boss with your pants down around your ankles.
This quote here is gonna have a lot of mileage: Keep it up and Trump will be a lock for another 4 years. Then 8 years of Pence. Then 8 years of Ivanka.
“So, Trump’s right to be upset about that, and I think if you looked at the real chronology and the nature of the battle here, those intelligence chiefs who were the best we’ve had, who are terrific and have done great work, I think they made a mistake here. And when people make mistakes, they should apologize.”
Oh, YEAH… SUPER-explosive stuff, that. “…the best we’ve had, and are terrific…” PLUS, “…have done great work…”
OTOH, when T-rump was briefed about this, HE made a mistake in not just stating the facts.
Fer instance: “I’ve never employed a prostitute”. If that was the truth.
See how easy…???
You, Leslie, are a hopeless T-rump fan gurl.
Sad.
“You, Leslie, are a hopeless T-rump fan gurl. Sad.”
And you have become a joke.
Pathetic.
“I’ve never employed a prostitute”. If it’s the truth.
If you had ANY integrity, you’d agree that would be what you should hear from your Little Yellow God.
Pathetic.
So Trump should spend 4 years denying every nutty allegation the left throws at him?
You need to let go of this blind hatred. You’re just as bad as the idiots on the left who think that protesting the inauguration will make Hillary the President. TRUMP WON. You don’t have to like it, but you have to live with it and learn to deal with it without looking like a petty child.
Why should he make such a blanket statement? Is he under investigation for the possibility that he might possibly at some time or another paid for sex?
If Trump were foolish enough to ever say “I have never (insert objectionable act here)”, it would only guarantee that the dems would then produce some previously unknown person every hour on the hour to swear that Trump did, indeed do (insert objectionable act here) with them. No proof would be needed, outlets like Buzzfeed would simply say “look at those sad eyes! How dare you say they’re lying!!!”
So that’s why denials are a fools game in today’s world. Accusations are just a tool to get the target to respond, which then “justifies” repetition of the accusation over and over. The real problem is that Trump responds in ways that his critics don’t anticipate and don’t understand.
“So Trump should spend 4 years denying every nutty allegation the left throws at him?”
Well, he did. DIDN’T HE…???
He just did it in a MUCH more “blanket” fashion, and left himself MUCH more open to counter evidence.
Me? I can say I’ve never employed a prostitute and never worry about that being contradicted in reality.
Because it’s just true. And, please, T-rump suckers, don’t tell me it’s different for public people.
You’re just disgusting.
Oh, and SandDog, just fluck you and your “just like” bullshit. What a lying POS.
Why would I want Trump to say that?
As others have said in response to you, all it does is dignify a scurrilous accusation. Answer it and he’ll spend the next four years being expected to deny every goofy accusation.
Notice that President Obama never dignified the accusations that he wasn’t born in Hawaii or wasn’t an American citizen. He knew better.
Mr. Trump is not required to jump through your hoops.
Trump should declare that he has never employed a prostitute when Obama goes no national TV and declares that he was never a transvestite prostitute and Michelle is not a man!
Same old never Trump crap!
It’s over he won the election!
Please get a clue Ragspierre
No, Common Dense, this is clearly POST election criticism of the T=rumpians and their slavish, obsequious bullshit.
Can you even read…??? Get a clue, cultist.
Gee Rags, I’m disappointed. At the first of the year you sounded almost sane for a while. I even gave you a thumbs up on one of your posts. What happened?
You appear to be losing it. I don’t follow your every post here, but my sampling suggests you’ve moved from somewhat reasoned posts peppered with not so creative namecalling to all out sophomoric and personal attacks.
Are you someone whose angst is becoming unbearable the closer you get to his inauguration? Maybe sites like Kos or Huffpo are better for hyperbolic vents.
You miss the point. In your blind hatred for all things Trump, you seem to dismiss the concerted attack upon a President-elect who has engaged in no official actions, yet. If Trump were Ted Cruz, and the same thing happened to him, you would be livid.
Like him or loath him, Donald Trump took on every single political party in America, every single challenger for the office, the Establishment, the media and international interests. And, he BEAT THEM ALL. Now, his enemies are reduced to publishing innuendo and outright fabrications to demean him.
You’re just a damn kook. Irrational, deranged kook.
Deny you beat your wife.
I’ve never struck any woman.
See how hard that is?
You’re just another T-rump sucking cultist, and you have been one here since sucking T-rump became a thing.
You’re a butthurt bitter old loser.
You did not deny beating your wife. You made a blanket statement. Not much different that what Trump did.
I have no idea if your wife is a woman. Or if you’re a man. You are just rags on an internet blog
You’re both wrong. “I’ve never struck any woman” is a denial of having beaten ones wife, since wives are always, by definition women. But what if Rags had once struck a woman, who wasn’t his wife, and who may very well have needed striking? He could not then honestly deny having done so, and yet he would still not have struck his wife.
This goes back to demanding Dingy Harry Reid prove he’s not a “pedophile rapist,” a statement made in response to his assertions that Mitt Romney was some kind of felon (statements Reid made on the Senate floor to protect himself from libel).
The point was that proving something didn’t happen or isn’t true is much harder than proving something that is true. Your taunt to Rags is off-base. Just as Romney had no need to “prove” he’s not a tax-evading felon, Rags has no need to prove to anyone that he doesn’t beat his wife (who, of course, is a woman, what is wrong with you?!).
Look, I get it. I want Trump to succeed, too. I want to wait before rushing to judgment, but you know, Rags’ cynicism is healthy and good for this site’s discussions. We are not Trump bots here, right? We can stand to hear bad things about the President-elect without lapsing into vapors and vomitous vitriol. Right?! We aren’t clones of the Obot left who wither and whine when our hero is assailed. Right?!
If it matters in politics, scientific method holds that (1) you can’t prove a negative, and (2) the burden of proof belongs to the claimant.
Cynicism is healthy. Rags knee-jerk constant cynicism about everything Trump is a mental disorder, and, like the boy who cried wolf, trivializes criticism when it is warranted.
That comment might even have some purchase, were it not coming from a slavering T-rump sucker who called me a “traitor” because I would not fall into line and worship his Great God Cheeto.
But since it does, it’s just more VaPigman pig shit.
What if he has employed a prostitute, or even several? It wouldn’t validate these allegations. But if he did he couldn’t risk denying it without having one of them come forward, and a narrower denial (e.g. “I’ve never employed a prostitute in Russia”) would just make the situation worse.
Come on Milhouse. You can do better than that. You’re a bulldog.
I don’t need to do “better”. It seems to me that what I wrote is a complete and sufficient rebuttal of Rags’s point. The demand he makes of Trump is overly broad, and Trump’s supposed inability to make that denial would not validate the allegations against him.
So what does he think about his buddy Bernstein’s comments on the subject over on CNN?
He’s swallowed the Democrat party line on the “documents” hook, line and sinker.
Woodward isn’t saying much here. And what he is saying is really cover for the Borg Collective. For instance, this crap—
And when people make mistakes, they should apologize.
Yeah, right, and collect their cute Gold Star for “Participation”.
Wrong. When people make “mistakes” of this magnitude, they should resign. Do something useful for America; save us all a boatload of time and money, and resign immediately. Nobody’s demanding that they fall on their swords, but they really should make way for better men.
CNN got caught running with a story which was detrimental to Trump which was entirely bogus. And, the claim that Trump was briefed in the “intelligence” was either false or it was leaked to the media by sources who were present [government intelligence operatives], which is improper or even criminal.
Now, the media collective is attempting to cover for CNN. But, CNN’s only defense is that they knowingly and willfully published an account which was solely designed to embarrass or harm Trump OR they are incompetent boobs. Either condition should result in termination and banishment from the journalistic profession. There is no upside for the journos.
To me CNN tried to find the finest of lines to tiptoe walk. But the question they cannot answer is why this ONE of many was worthy of notifying the public of its existence. Especially when any effort the Could have made to confirm how seriously it was considered by POTUS, PEOTUS, and most leaders in the intelligence community. Which is not at all.
It was only worthy to CNN because it was salacious and a hit on Trump. My guess is they wanted to be early in trafficking it in case the rest of the anti-Trump media (or the media) gave it longer legs.
This “dossier” has been around since the end of 2015 and in the hands of the FBI, and we can probably assume the CIA, since the beginning of 2016. They had plenty of time to vet the report and verify the material referenced there. Does anyone think for a moment than no one checked Trump’s counsel’s passport and travel files, or Trump’s travel files? The intelligence community KNEW this report was bogus. So, why even include it in the PEOTUS’ intelligence briefing packet [if they did]? Might it have been for the sole purpose of allowing a media outlet, such as CNN, to mention the report in passing as having been included in Trump intelligence briefing? No claim that this report was a Russian fabrication has been reliably alleged. So, it appears that this report was solely designed to embarrass Trump.
Apologize? They and McCain, a clueless dupe of the Clinton’s, went for the smear.
Imagine how deep your Stockholm Syndrome must be when you become a GOPe dupe for the Clintons.
McCain is the most disgusting example of a GOPe quisling. We need to end this nonsense with him and write him off and consider him a democrat. We simply don’t need his Senate vote anymore.
The sad thing is that the people of Arizona will continue to elect McCain to the Senate, no matter what Party affiliation he claims. He is a Senator for life.
Senator for life, but he’s gettin’ pretty old. Just sayin’.
Endorsed for re-election by Mr. Establishment.
You people are disgusting…
Excellent case=in-point…
http://www.redstate.com/patterico/2017/01/14/trump-snaps-back-john-lewis-twitter/
No. Donelle T-warmp DID NOT “snap back”. He/she easily COULD have directly refuted Lewis’ daft BS.
Instead he essentially called Lewis a poopy-head.
And many here take that as genius. Over a short time, America will show its contempt for that.
Oh, and…BTW…STUPID denials are not the way to counter poor old crazy John Lewis, either…
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/01/15/reince-priebus-on-john-lewis-you-didnt-have-republicans-questioning-the-legitimacy-of-obamas-victory-in-2008/
Donelle T-wamp could have responded in a really definitive, constructive way…that was truthful.
He couldn’t manage that.
“Donelle T-wamp could have responded in a really definitive, constructive way…that was truthful.”
You are now mastering irony, too. His responses may not be what we have come to expect from the elected class, but they are a huge leap above the sophomoric level. Guess you don’t subscribe to practicing your preaching.
There’s no “preaching”, just observation and reporting.
It IS the sophomoric level, and it WILL become very tiresome to Americans very quickly.
You cannot imagine Reagan being so childish. Because he was not.
Redstate and hotair, real unbiased sources. All full of shit, all the time, every time.
Trump responded in the correct way. Only deranged individuals cannot see it.
To me Hotair is relatively balanced on the right
Redstate is very limited and nearly an activist site in the mold Kos or perhaps The Blaze.
Priebus either said it or he didn’t, Lying Barri. You can’t deal with reality, so you attack sources.
And you know he DID say what’s reported.
Barri; All full of shit, all the time, every time.
It’s good that Woodward has distanced himself from The Washington Post that was embarrassed by its coverage of Clinton’s Water Closet.
Have they determined the identity of Deep Plunger?
I wouldn’t doubt if it was Obama himself. The conflict between the Obama and Clinton factions was never really reconciled.
When a lefty speaks of mistakes and apologies he/she means ‘let’s let this one go now that all its propaganda value has been spent.’
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5283864287001/
Pence again shows T-rump how it’s done, and puts T-rump sucking morons to shame.
Which is a short trip…