CNN Forced to Backtrack After Being Busted Pushing More Fake News — by Brian Thomas

CNN is backtracking over yet another “bombshell” report that turned out to be false.

CNN reported in May that Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn’t disclose meetings he had with a Russian ambassador last year when he applied for his security clearance.

CNN said the security clearance form required him to list the meetings. The fact that he didn’t disclose them, CNN claimed, was evidence that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign during the election.

From CNN’s May report:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not disclose meetings he had last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance, the Justice Department told CNN Wednesday. Sessions, who met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least two times last year, didn’t note those interactions on the form, which requires him to list “any contact” he or his family had with a “foreign government” or its “representatives” over the past seven years, officials said. The new information from the Justice Department is the latest example of Sessions failing to disclose contacts he had with Russian officials. He has come under withering criticism from Democrats following revelations that he did not disclose the same contacts with Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year.

Sessions explained that the FBI told him not to disclose meetings connected with his Senate activities, a claim CNN’s legal advisers denied.

Surprise: CNN was wrong. FBI emails now prove that Sessions’s explanation was truthful. The media giant finally backtracked over their mistake on Monday:

A newly released document shows that the FBI told an aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions that Sessions wasn’t required to disclose foreign contacts that occurred in the course of carrying out his government duties when he was a senator. The FBI email from March bolsters the explanation by the Justice Department for why Sessions didn’t disclose contacts with the Russian ambassador in his application for a US security clearance. When the omission of the foreign contacts on the form was first reported by CNN in May, the Justice Department said Sessions’ office was advised by the FBI that he didn’t need to disclose the meetings.

The story led to a media firestorm. Following CNN’s reporting, other reports soon followed up on the story that supposedly indicated collusion between Trump and Russia.

Yet a few days ago, CNN had to correct another of those “bombshells.” They erroneously claimed that the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., had access in advance to Wikileaks documents.

It seems CNN would rather check their facts after they report the lies.

The Daily Caller reports:

CNN framed the non-disclosures as more evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump team, writing, “He has come under withering criticism from Democrats following revelations that he did not disclose the same contacts with Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year.” At the time, Sessions said he was told by the FBI not to list meetings “connected with his Senate activities,” but CNN’s legal expert denied those claims. “A legal expert who regularly assists officials in filling out the form disagrees with the Justice Department’s explanation, suggesting that Sessions should have disclosed the meetings,” CNN asserted […] Monday’s article indicates that Sessions was following what the FBI told him and was not intentionally trying to mislead the DOJ about his meetings with Russians. Just this past Friday, CNN had to correct another “bombshell” report that claimed Donald Trump Jr. had advance access to Wikileaks documents stolen from the Democrats.

President Trump suggested days ago that CNN’s frequent “mistakes” are actually purposeful, intended to confuse the public with false reports.

CNN’S slogan is CNN, THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS. Everyone knows this is not true, that this could, in fact, be a fraud on the American Public. There are many outlets that are far more trusted than Fake News CNN. Their slogan should be CNN, THE LEAST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017

Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed, just like lonely Brian Ross at ABC News (who should be immediately fired for his “mistake”). Watch to see if @CNN fires those responsible, or was it just gross incompetence? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017

As CNN continues to backtrack on previous reports, it seems more and more likely that their sloppy reporting is more purposeful than incompetent.