XPost: alt.politics.radical-left, alt.politics.trump, alt.education   
   XPost: can.politics   
   From: apes@splcenter.org   
      
   When it comes to the bombshell report that former National   
   Security Adviser Susan E. Rice “unmasked” members of the Trump   
   transition caught up in U.S. surveillance of foreign officials,   
   it’s difficult to tell the difference between mainstream media   
   reports and Democratic Party talking points.   
      
   Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, called the   
   “nothing to see here” reporting shameful.   
      
   “We have a smoking gun that points to criminal activity by   
   President Obama’s national security adviser, and the media have   
   shown an utter lack of interest in pursuing the story,” Mr.   
   Bozell said in a statement.   
      
   Ms. Rice does not lack friends in the mainstream media. Among   
   her most vociferous defenders is CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who   
   spun the story as a further indictment of the Trump   
   administration’s ties to Russia.   
      
   “There’s no evidence of any wrongdoing,” Mr. Cuomo said Tuesday   
   on “New Day.” “And in fact, if anything, the NSA asking for   
   identities was a reflection of exactly how much traffic there   
   was involving Trump people and foreign players. The White House   
   [is] blasting the press for another fake scandal being peddled   
   by right-wing media.”   
      
   But if the story is evidence of a cozy relationship between   
   Moscow and the Trump administration, CNN national security   
   correspondent Jim Scuitto didn’t get the memo.   
      
   On the contrary, Mr. Scuitto, a former Obama administration   
   appointee, said the “ginned-up scandal” reflects the White   
   House’s desire to deflect attention from the investigation into   
   Russian meddling in the presidential race.   
      
   “Former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser Susan   
   Rice, at the center [of] President Trump’s latest attempt to   
   renew his unproven wiretapping claim and divert attention away   
   from his team’s contacts with Russia,” Mr. Sciutto reported on   
   “New Day.”   
      
   Bloomberg News’ Eli Lake reported Monday that Ms. Rice   
   “requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence   
   reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump   
   transition and campaign.”   
      
   Despite claiming to know nothing about the unmasking last month,   
   Ms. Rice insisted Tuesday that she never unmasked members of Mr.   
   Trump’s inner circle for political purposes. She said revealing   
   the identities of U.S. citizens swept up in surveillance is   
   “necessary to understand the importance of an intelligence   
   report in some instances.”   
      
   “If I saw an intelligence report that looked potentially   
   significant — and, by definition, if it is being provided to me,   
   it is significant — then I can make that request,” Ms. Rice told   
   MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “That’s necessary for me to do my job.”   
      
   The mainstream media have largely reported Ms. Rice’s talking   
   points verbatim.   
      
   NBC White House correspondent Kristin Welker called the   
   unmasking of U.S. citizens inadvertently caught up in foreign   
   surveillance a “common practice” in the intelligence community.   
      
   Citing sources close to Ms. Rice, ABC White House correspondent   
   Cecilia Vega said the story is far from a “smoking gun.”   
      
   “In fact, some of the president’s conservative allies are   
   applauding this. They are calling this the smoking gun that   
   proves his wiretapping claims,” Ms. Vega reported. “It is not   
   that, Amy. A former aide close to Rice doesn’t deny that she   
   did, in fact, seek out these names, but they say she did nothing   
   illegal or nothing out of the purview of her job.”   
      
   Other members of the media blasted their colleagues’ apathetic   
   coverage.   
      
   MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said there are still “a lot of things we   
   don’t know” about the story.   
      
   “I do know this, though: I heard the hallelujah chorus come in   
   immediately on cue last night saying ‘nothing to see here, move   
   along, move along,’” Mr. Scarborough said on “Morning Joe.”   
      
   If it had been Republicans unmasking Democrats, reporters would   
   be far more curious to investigate the story, he said.   
      
   “What if Dick Cheney had asked for the unmasking of names for   
   Barack Obama’s incoming administration?” Mr. Scarborough said.   
      
   “It’s a very simple question to ask the next time anybody says   
   this is much ado about nothing.”   
      
   The Bloomberg report said information collected about members of   
   the Trump transition team included “valuable political   
   information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team   
   was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy   
   matters and plans for the incoming administration.”   
      
   MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin said that report “begs a   
   lot of questions about what was going on, and people who want to   
   dismiss it as routine, I think, are uncurious.”   
      
   ? Doug Ernst contributed to this report.   
      
   http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/4/susan-rice-   
   unmasking-bombshell-another-fake-scanda/   
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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