A LIST OF MEDIA NARRATIVES DEBUNKED BY THE MUELLER REPORT
by Kevin Ryan
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Trump campaign officials met with Russian Ambassador Kislyak to coordinate illegal activity.
REALITY: “Interactions between Russian Ambassador Kislyak and Trump Campaign officials both at the candidate's April 2016 foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., and during the week of the Republican National Convention were brief, public, and non-substantive”… “The investigation also did not establish that a meeting between Kislyak and Sessions in September 2016 at Sessions's Senate office included any more than a passing mention of the presidential campaign.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: The Trump campaign conspired with Russia to use fake social media ads and posts to influence the election.
REALITY: “The investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly or intentionally coordinated with the [Russian social media] interference operation”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos arranged secret meetings between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government.
REALITY: “No meeting took place.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Russia influenced the administration’s foreign policy posture toward Russia.
REALITY: Russia attempted to “interact with Campaign officials with responsibility for the foreign-policy portfolio in the weeks after the [Republican] Convention. The [Special Counsel’s] Office did not identify evidence in those interactions of coordination between the Campaign and the Russian government.
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Trump and/or members of his family and campaign were controlled by or working for the Russian government.
REALITY: “The investigation did not yield evidence sufficient to sustain any charge that any individual affiliated with the Trump Campaign acted as an agent of a foreign principal” or that “Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Carter Page acted as agents of the Russian government - or at its direction, control, or request.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russia involved “coordination” or “conspiracy” between Trump and Russia.
REALITY: “The [Special Counsel’s] Office investigated whether those contacts constituted a third avenue of attempted Russian interference with or influence on the 2016 presidential election. In particular, the investigation examined whether these contacts involved or resulted in coordination or a conspiracy with the Trump Campaign and Russia, including with respect to Russia providing assistance to the Campaign in exchange for any sort of favorable treatment in the future. Based on the available information, the investigation did not establish such coordination.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Russian contacts with the Trump transition team following the election are evidence that Russia and the Trump campaign were collaborating.
REALITY: “Beginning immediately after the election, individuals connected to the Russian government started contacting officials on the Trump Campaign... The investigation did not establish that these efforts reflected or constituted coordination between the Trump Campaign and Russia.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: President Trump ordered Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, to claim that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.
REALITY: “Cohen said that he and the President did not explicitly discuss whether Cohen's testimony about the Trump Tower Moscow project would be or was false, and the President did not direct him to provide false testimony. Cohen also said he did not tell the President about the specifics of his planned testimony.’
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort shared internal polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian business associate with ties to Russian intelligence, in order to assist Russian efforts to target battleground states with fake news and social media campaigns that favored Trump’s candidacy over Clinton’s.
REALITY: “The Office did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort‘s sharing polling data and Russia's interference in the election, which had already been reported by U.S. media outlets at the time of the August 2 meeting. The investigation did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.”
SOURCES: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5955210-Redacted-Mueller-Report.html
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/01/...-suspected-russian-agent-konstantin-kilimnik/
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-would-paul-manafort-share-polling-data-with-russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...562ad8-12b0-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/politics/manafort-ukrainian-oligarchs/index.html
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...ssia-cohen-moscow-tower-mueller-investigation
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/26/us/politics/trump-contacts-russians-wikileaks.html
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/5683...d-change-to-party-platform-on-ukraine-support
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...ump-campaign-soften-platform-language-benefi/
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2...ing-about-the-gop-platform-on-ukraine/494789/
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...egerussian_agent_influenced_gop_platform.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...n-times-the-trump-campaign-met-with-russians/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/...out-creating-secret-channel-with-kremlin.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...ions-have-undisclosed-meeting-russian-n767096
https://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan...sians-get-inside-access-to-the-trump-campaign
https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...f-sessions-really-meet-sergey-kislyak/530091/
by Kevin Ryan
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Trump campaign officials met with Russian Ambassador Kislyak to coordinate illegal activity.
REALITY: “Interactions between Russian Ambassador Kislyak and Trump Campaign officials both at the candidate's April 2016 foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., and during the week of the Republican National Convention were brief, public, and non-substantive”… “The investigation also did not establish that a meeting between Kislyak and Sessions in September 2016 at Sessions's Senate office included any more than a passing mention of the presidential campaign.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: The Trump campaign conspired with Russia to use fake social media ads and posts to influence the election.
REALITY: “The investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly or intentionally coordinated with the [Russian social media] interference operation”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos arranged secret meetings between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government.
REALITY: “No meeting took place.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Russia influenced the administration’s foreign policy posture toward Russia.
REALITY: Russia attempted to “interact with Campaign officials with responsibility for the foreign-policy portfolio in the weeks after the [Republican] Convention. The [Special Counsel’s] Office did not identify evidence in those interactions of coordination between the Campaign and the Russian government.
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Trump and/or members of his family and campaign were controlled by or working for the Russian government.
REALITY: “The investigation did not yield evidence sufficient to sustain any charge that any individual affiliated with the Trump Campaign acted as an agent of a foreign principal” or that “Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Carter Page acted as agents of the Russian government - or at its direction, control, or request.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russia involved “coordination” or “conspiracy” between Trump and Russia.
REALITY: “The [Special Counsel’s] Office investigated whether those contacts constituted a third avenue of attempted Russian interference with or influence on the 2016 presidential election. In particular, the investigation examined whether these contacts involved or resulted in coordination or a conspiracy with the Trump Campaign and Russia, including with respect to Russia providing assistance to the Campaign in exchange for any sort of favorable treatment in the future. Based on the available information, the investigation did not establish such coordination.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Russian contacts with the Trump transition team following the election are evidence that Russia and the Trump campaign were collaborating.
REALITY: “Beginning immediately after the election, individuals connected to the Russian government started contacting officials on the Trump Campaign... The investigation did not establish that these efforts reflected or constituted coordination between the Trump Campaign and Russia.”
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: President Trump ordered Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, to claim that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.
REALITY: “Cohen said that he and the President did not explicitly discuss whether Cohen's testimony about the Trump Tower Moscow project would be or was false, and the President did not direct him to provide false testimony. Cohen also said he did not tell the President about the specifics of his planned testimony.’
• MEDIA NARRATIVE: Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort shared internal polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian business associate with ties to Russian intelligence, in order to assist Russian efforts to target battleground states with fake news and social media campaigns that favored Trump’s candidacy over Clinton’s.
REALITY: “The Office did not identify evidence of a connection between Manafort‘s sharing polling data and Russia's interference in the election, which had already been reported by U.S. media outlets at the time of the August 2 meeting. The investigation did not establish that Manafort otherwise coordinated with the Russian government on its election-interference efforts.”
SOURCES: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5955210-Redacted-Mueller-Report.html
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/01/...-suspected-russian-agent-konstantin-kilimnik/
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-would-paul-manafort-share-polling-data-with-russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...562ad8-12b0-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/politics/manafort-ukrainian-oligarchs/index.html
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...ssia-cohen-moscow-tower-mueller-investigation
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/26/us/politics/trump-contacts-russians-wikileaks.html
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/5683...d-change-to-party-platform-on-ukraine-support
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...ump-campaign-soften-platform-language-benefi/
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2...ing-about-the-gop-platform-on-ukraine/494789/
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...egerussian_agent_influenced_gop_platform.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...n-times-the-trump-campaign-met-with-russians/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/...out-creating-secret-channel-with-kremlin.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...ions-have-undisclosed-meeting-russian-n767096
https://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan...sians-get-inside-access-to-the-trump-campaign
https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...f-sessions-really-meet-sergey-kislyak/530091/
