Washington Examiner:
It seems the rate at which members of the press are circulating misleading “breaking news” stories alleging some nefarious action by the Trump administration has actually gotten worse since the inauguration.
On Thursday, NBC News’ Peter Alexander claimed the new White House had eased restrictions on Russia so that U.S. companies could go into business with the Federal Security Service.
As Alexander also noted to his nearly 100,000 followers on social media, the FSB is the successor of the dreaded KGB.
Media on the Left and Right soon parroted his shocking claim, and the notion that the Trump administration had eased up restrictions on the former KGB spread quickly all over social media.
Atlantic columnist David Frum remarked, “This is happening as Russia intensifies its war on Ukraine, including rocketing civilian population concentrations. The case grows ever stronger for an independent commission to investigate Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election,” he added.
Mother Jones’ David Corn added separately, “This is crazy. The FSB, according to our own intelligence community, plotted to subvert the 2016 election. Now it is rewarded.”
He added, “Dems should go ballistic over this. So should McCain, Graham & Rubio & anyone who gives a damn about the sanctity of American democracy.”
“[N]ot even pretending that russian [sic] doens’t [sic] own us at this point,” said Genius senior writer Insanul Ahmed.
Blogger Keith Olbermann, of course, weighed in with his usual bluster, saying “The FSB is the Russian spy agency. You know, the one [Trump] claims he’s not working for or being blackmailed by #Disloyal.”
Etcetera, etcetera.
Before these hot takes had a chance to cool, however, NBC’s Alexander tweeted out a rather important follow-up to his initial supposed scoop: “NEW: Source familiar w sanctions says it’s a technical fix, planned under Obama, to avoid unintended consequences of cybersanctions.”
Oh.
First, as noted elsewhere by the New York Times’ Peter Baker, the proposed fix was in the works long before Trump took office.
The KGB never vanished-renamed the FSB but sill has separate units that are classified as KGB. recall the demotratic position of nbc-nothing but clinton.
Oh. Well, then it’s brilliant.