The plot thickens...

On July 26th, CNN unleashed a "bombshell" report that Michael Cohen was claiming that candidate Trump knew in advance about the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

Dropping this line in the middle of their story: "Contacted by CNN, one of Cohen's attorneys, Lanny Davis, declined to comment."

Then, last week, amid the deafening euphoria of the 'anti-Trump'-ers, Davis told Anderson Cooper:

“I think the reporting of the story got mixed up in the course of a criminal investigation. We were not the source of the story. ”

Davis increasingly backed away from the story in recent days, telling the Washington Post that he is not certain if the claim is accurate, and that he could not independently corroborate it.

Destroying CNN's "bombshell" story, crushing the hopes of millions of 'not my president'-ers.

As Buzzfeed notes, after Davis publicly backtracked from the claims, the New York Post and the Washington Post outed him as their confirming source and published apologies from Davis

But, of course, CNN was giving up such a great story so easily (whether it's true or fake news), and followed up anxiously by none other than Brian Stelter who gushed over Twitter in the face of Davis' refutation of their entire story that:

" Re: CNN's July 27 story about Cohen claiming that Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting: "We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it.""

All of which brings up to date, safe in the knowledge that despite Davis' denial that CNN's story ever occurred, CNN has "a source" that confirmed it and that's good enough for them.

BUT...

Now, after all that pre-amble, double-talk, and utterly bullshit fake news reporting, Lanny Davis - who we perhaps need to remind readers once again is an extremely well-paid f**king lawyer and communications expert - has told Buzzfeed that he was the anonymous source in a July CNN story .

Tonight, Davis told BuzzFeed News that he regrets both his role as an anonymous source and his subsequent denial of his own involvement.

Davis told BuzzFeed News that he did, in fact, speak anonymously to CNN for its story, which cited “sources with knowledge” — meaning more than one person. “I made a mistake,” Davis said. Regarding his comments about a month later to Cooper, he added, “I did not mean to be cute.”

As Buzzfeed concludes, Davis' role in the CNN story also offers a window into the kind of anonymous sourcing common across newsrooms. Some news outlets have a policy to not let sources speak "on background" — that is, as a “person familiar with the matter” or some other unnamed moniker — and also be allowed to decline to comment on the record.

“We should address Lanny Davis’s comments in our reporting and be more transparent with our readers about our reporting,” one CNN staffer told BuzzFeed News.

Buzzfeed's Steven Perlberg tweeted later that "Lanny Davis called to add that he did not lie to Anderson Cooper, but says he "unintentionally misspoke" re his role in the CNN Trump Tower story"

Lanny Davis called to add that he did not lie to Anderson Cooper, but says he "unintentionally misspoke" re his role in the CNN Trump Tower story https://t.co/gUO3piTM0V — Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) August 28, 2018

And while Davis looks bad, it is CNN whose credibility is getting crushed (admittedly from record lows).

Indeed - but what will be more fun is CNN's official response to this, Brain Stelter's squirming, and President Trump's tweet.

And here's the TL;DR version...

1. CNN reports Cohen has info on POTUS having advanced knowledge of Trump tower meeting.



2. @jonathanvswan reports Cohen told House Committee he had no such info.



3. Cohen's lawyer confirms Swan's reporting.



4. CNN refuses to correct their "reporting"



5. @brianstelter silent. — Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) August 26, 2018

Finally, we have one quick question for Brian Stelter: "Is truth truth yet?"