More lies.... It's getting ridiculous. It's getting complex. It is getting surreal.
It was reported that the Whitewash House actually produced a fake news story in order to smear a reporter who reported factually and truthfully but that the Cheeto Musselini Regime didn't like.
It's complex, but Spicey is at the center of it. You can read about the incident in the Washington Post.
Here is the meat of the matter from the article linked above:
Annie Karni and Alex Isenstadt of Politico publish a piece about how Spicer has been investigating alleged leaks from within his own staff:
Last week, after Spicer became aware that information had leaked out of a planning meeting with about a dozen of his communications staffers, he reconvened the group in his office to express his frustration over the number of private conversations and meetings that were showing up in unflattering news stories, according to sources in the room.
Upon entering Spicer’s office for what one person briefed on the gathering described as “an emergency meeting,” staffers were told to dump their phones on a table for a “phone check,” to prove they had nothing to hide.
Those details are chilling though not surprising, given what we know about the zeal of President Trump to always be seeking and punishing leakers. Though he seems to love leakers when they’re helping him. In any case, the Karni-Isenstadt story made the rounds today, including on CNN and other outlets.
Bad news always places White House handlers in a bind. How to respond? Keep quiet? Issue an apology? Deny? Make a pledge to dismantle the surveillance state descending on your colleauges? Nah, better to ring up the Washington Examiner and have it smear Isenstadt.
Voila! “Claim: Reporter laughs at Trump aide’s emotion over SEAL death,” reads the headline of Examiner reporter Paul Bedard’s piece posted early Sunday evening. Note the wording — with its “claim” construction, the Washington Examiner is placing no institutional credibility in the story that follows. Rather, it’s signaling that it’ll be carrying the water for a media-hating White House.
Scattered and poorly executed, the story appears to represent the assertion by anonymous White House officials that Isenstadt, while reporting the Spicer-leak-investigation piece, did something offensive. The alleged moment arose as Isenstadt was asking Spicer in an interview about a staffer at the White House press office. Here’s how Karni and Isenstadt reported out the scenario:
Within the communications office, the mood has grown tense. During a recent staff meeting, Spicer harshly criticized some of the work deputy communications director Jessica Ditto had done, causing her to cry, according to two people familiar with the incident. “The only time Jessica recalls almost getting emotional is when we had to relay the information on the death of Chief Ryan Owens,” Spicer said, referring to the Navy SEAL killed recently in action in Yemen.
What fresh material was the Washington Examiner adding to this matter? Well, its anonymous White House sources whisper that Isenstadt laughed inappropriately when discussing the Ditto issue.
“He started laughing about that SEAL,” the Washington Examiner quotes “one informed official” as saying. Politico spokesman Brad Dayspring denied any such characterization. Asked how he justified using anonymous sourcing for such an allegation, the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard responded, “I thought Brad had a good response as did the anon Politico who characterized Spicer.”
The Washington Examiner’s treatment makes it utterly impossible to determine just who leaked details of a conversation involving Sean Spicer and Politico.
Since Spicer apparently has a thing for investigating leaks, however, we call upon him to investigate this one.
Politico Editor Carrie Budoff Brown tweeted:
Reporter writes story WH doesn't like/disputes. WH anonymously plants false story about reporter. https://t.co/2ZGue3uxfz
— Carrie Budoff Brown (@cbudoffbrown) February 27, 2017
Before assuming his role as press secretary, Spicer was downright Trumpian regarding his feelings for Politico. Appearing at a December event with Politico “Playbook” reporters Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, Spicer brandished a binder, saying, “This is every story that Politico has done on the RNC and GOP this year,” said Spicer. “I do have a problem with how Politico has engaged in covering politics, especially on our side. I think it is tweet-happy, it is clickbait in many cases and it’s devoid of facts.”
Spicer didn’t respond to questions via email. But here’s a good one for him: What’s next?
Please, let this Reign of Mendacity end. Soon!
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