U.S. sources have evidence verifying parts of Russia dossier, CNN reports

Rss@dailykos.com (laura Clawson) · Friday, February 10, 2017, 5:45 pm

How’s this for a Friday news dump? CNN reports that unnamed U.S. sources have corroborated parts of the dossier relating to Russian election interference and Donald Trump:

None of the newly learned information relates to the salacious allegations in the dossier. Rather it relates to conversations between foreign nationals. The dossier details about a dozen conversations between senior Russian officials and other Russian individuals. Sources would not confirm which specific conversations were intercepted or the content of those discussions due to the classified nature of US intelligence collection programs.

But the intercepts do confirm that some of the conversations described in the dossier took place between the same individuals on the same days and from the same locations as detailed in the dossier, according to the officials. CNN has not confirmed whether any content relates to then-candidate Trump.

But whether or not the specific content being corroborated relates directly to Trump, this raises confidence in the reliability of the dossier as a whole—if some parts of it are right, it’s more likely that other parts are as well.

The White House response was 100 percent predictable:

Reached for comment this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "We continue to be disgusted by CNN's fake news reporting."

Spicer later called back and said, "This is more fake news. It is about time CNN focused on the success the President has had bringing back jobs, protecting the nation, and strengthening relationships with Japan and other nations. The President won the election because of his vision and message for the nation."

So basically, Spicer went to a higher-up and told them “CNN called with this story; I accused them of being fake news” and the higher-up said “call back and say it again, only with more praise of Trump.”

Source
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/mg1cJ-PnIdY/-U-S-sources-have-evidence-verifying-parts-of-Russia-dossier-CNN-reports