Twitchy
July 25, 2018
CBS News on Monday published the findings of an Associated Press fact-check on President Trump’s tweets on those newly released documents from the FBI, which included the (heavily redacted) FISA warrant application to spy on Trump aide Carter Page.
Included among those tweets was this one, in which Trump declares the Christopher Steele dossier “a Clinton Campaign document.”
“It was classified to cover up misconduct by the FBI and the Justice Department in misleading the Court by using this Dossier in a dishonest way to gain a warrant to target the Trump Team. This is a Clinton Campaign document. It was a fraud and a hoax designed to target Trump….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
That particular fact-check caught the eye of The Federalist’s Sean Davis:
CBS News/Associated Press “Fact Check”: “It’s not correct to call the Steele dossier a ‘Clinton Campaign document.'” Amazing. https://t.co/N4ahItXxF4 pic.twitter.com/BxF4n2fTDD
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 24, 2018
Here’s the AP’s reasoning behind that claim:
It’s also not correct to call the Steele dossier a “Clinton Campaign document.” Steele was hired by Fusion GPS, a private research firm that in turn was hired by a law firm that represented the Democratic campaign. But Clinton’s closest aides said they didn’t learn about the research until after the election, which is probable considering they never raised the allegations publicly.
We especially like the use of, “But Clinton’s closest aides said…” in a fact-check of Donald Trump: stellar work there. “Which is probable” is also a nice touch.
So, the DNC and the Clinton campaign didn’t pay for the dossier — they went through a law firm that paid Fusion GPS, who paid for the dossier — and they didn’t use any of it publicly as opposition research during the campaign. And that’s why it’s…