The only people surprised that the special counsel’s investigation of Russian collusion did not confirm a lunatic conspiracy theory are consumers of the modern American media. For two years, our constitutionally protected guardians of the truth put out a stream of misinformation, promising viewers that Robert Mueller was going to reverse the outcome of the 2016 election.

Everyone at fake news MSNBC, marginally less fake news NBC, and totally fake news CNN — hosts, guests, legal experts and national security analysts — should be told, Clean out your lockers. Put all your things in cardboard cartons. If you need to go back, you will be escorted by security.

Instead, they are adamantly refusing to take back their years of lies about Trump and Russian collusion. This is not a time to let bygones be bygones. The boot should not be lifted from the media’s throat.

In case you’ve forgotten what needs to be taken back, here is a random selection, from a single network for simplicity:

“Hi Nicolle, and if it is Monday, the Russian conspiracy is so much worse than we knew … The Russian conspiracy to help get Donald Trump elected was apparently wider, deeper, dirtier, more sophisticated and more pervasive than we thought.”

— Katy Tur, MSNBC, Dec. 17, 2018

** ** **

“Well, this demonstrates that Robert Mueller is focusing on exactly what he is supposed to be focusing on, and that is Russia … We already have clear evidence of collaboration between the Trump campaign and Russian agents.”

— Richard Painter, lawyer, MSNBC, May 1, 2018

** ** **

“You see all of these Russian connections — there’s a new one every single day, and increasingly benign explanations for what the Trump, for what they’re up to, benign explanations are just not credible.”

— Max Boot, warmonger, MSNBC, July 21, 2017

** ** **

“We have the most immoral president perhaps in American history particularly because of the foreign influence of Russia … it is hard to believe that a prosecutor of Mueller’s testing and experience would come to the end of this and not have something to say about these terrible offenses.”

— John Flannery, lawyer, MSNBC, March 18, 2019

** ** **

“I’ll tell you something, if (Russia’s ‘inside man’ is) not George Papadopoulos, then we’ve got a mystery person inside the Trump campaign who theoretically could still be in place.”

— Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence, FBI, MSNBC, Jan. 9, 2018

** ** **

“I believe that what we have here is a very broad-based criminal conspiracy. … And Donald Trump is a walking example of how any intelligence officer can turn someone against their own nation. As John Brennan said, most of the time, they don’t even know that they’re committing treason.”

— Malcolm Nance, counterterrorism intel analyst, MSNBC, Nov. 30, 2018

** ** **

“This is the linkage between Donald Trump and Russia in crimes.”

— Jill Wine-Banks, assistant Watergate prosecutor, MSNBC, Dec. 7, 2018

** ** **

“It’s going to be so clear that this has been a criminal enterprise from day one with the Russians and Trump …”

— Rep. Steve Cohen, MSNBC, Dec. 7, 2018

** ** **

“Were these gun rights folks potentially a conduit for Russian money alongside other forms of Russian government influence on our 2016 campaign?”

— Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, July 25, 2018

** ** **

“And what about Trump’s ringleadership of his people, including family members and their efforts to win this award of a foreign power, Russia, to win the presidency?”

— Chris Matthews, MSNBC, March 8, 2019

** ** **

“And the Russians’ investment in (Trump) goes back decades. … It may have been the situation where (Trump) decided, look, what Russia is giving us in terms of political help here and undermining Hillary Clinton’s candidacy may be way bigger than any deal we could ever get in Russia.”

— Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic, MSNBC, Nov. 30, 2018

** ** **

“So, with this whole real estate deal and the claws that the Russians had into (Cohen), and what he was doing with that in terms of dealing with the Russians was all part and parcel of this conspiracy that resulted in their assistance in the campaign.”

— Nick Akerman, assistant Watergate prosecutor, MSNBC, Nov. 30, 2018

** ** **

“An American president who has been compromised by the Russians faces the world.”

— Chris Hayes, MSNBC, Nov. 30, 2018

COPYRIGHT 2019 ANN COULTER