Like the Media Research Center, WorldNetDaily went full Trump Regime Media in hyping the Trump-Russia document dump. Bob Unruh raged in a July 18 “news” article:
Remember all the “Russia collusion” claims just before President Trump took office in 2017? And after? The years of special investigations. Government officials making wild claims? Media sycophants echoing the claims? All of those claims about Trump’s campaign colluding with Russia.
Evidence now shows that that conspiracy was triggered by Hillary Clinton’s desire to distract American voters’ attention away from her scandalous behavior in which she posted government secrets on an unsecure private computer server she set up, and worked with an “opposition research” team, some lawyers, and some foreigners on the plan.
But whatever “colluding” they had been trying to persuade the American public was going on, the top level of Democrats in America, from Barack Obama and Joe Biden on down, knew that the Russians did not impact Trump’s victory.
But there was Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the Trump administration did have contact with Russian operatives. Unruh is simply using the document dump to deny reality. But because this is WND and Trump Regime Media, the conspiracy-mongering continued apace over the next few days:
- ‘There must be indictments’: Tulsi Gabbard details ‘treasonous conspiracy directed by President Obama’
- ‘Justice is coming’: Expert warns high-level Dems who schemed to undermine President Trump
- DOJ confirms receipt of Tulsi Gabbard’s criminal referral on Barack Obama administration
- ‘Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader’: Trump goes on ‘absolute warpath’ for ‘treasonous’ actions against him
- ‘Follow the truth’: Mike Johnson says Obama could face subpoena over Russiagate
WND even touted a AI-generated video of Obama getting arrested that Trump posted to his social media feed.
It wasn’t until four days later — and after all these inflammatory articles — that WND bothered to note the other side of the story, in a July 22 article by Joe Kovacs:
The office of former President Barack Obama responded Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s assertion that Obama was “the ringleader” of treasonous crimes designed to severely undermine Trump.
Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush indicated Trump and his officials were voicing “outrageous” claims.
“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” Rodenbush stated.
“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”
“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” he continued.
“These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Rather then respond to what the Obama camp said, Kovacs merely rehashed the earlier attacks. Meanwhile, a July 23 article by Unruh complained that a “constitutional expert” rained on WND’s Obama-hating parade:
With all the evidence, from documents from his own presidency and advisers, coming out now against Barack Obama over the grand conspiracy that was launched during his presidency against then-President-elect Donald Trump, trying to undermine his agenda, the Democrat still is likely to skate.
That’s according to constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who has not only advised Congress on the Constitution but represented members in court on those issues.
He’s a widely respected professor at George Washington University, as well as a popular commentator for several outlets on legal and constitutional questions.
The evidence available so far shows that it is likely Obama and his henchmen, James Clapper, James Comey and John Brennan, as well as others, suppressed information that Russia didn’t impact the 2016 American elections, then rewrote some of the intel community’s evaluations to suggest a link between Trump and Russia.
Of course the American media obsessed over those unsubstantiated claims for years then.
Turley wrote, “I disagree with the use of the charge of treason being thrown around with this release. Based on this evidence, it would be hard to make a criminal case against Obama, let alone the specific charge of treason.
Turley did serve up some chum for Unruh, though:
He pointed to those who may be considered co-conspirators.
“The silence of the legacy media is hardly surprising, given the key role the media played in spreading these false claims. Most media outlets find themselves in an uncomfortable position, having fostered an alleged conspiracy for years. Most reporters are not keen on making a case against themselves in spreading of these false claims.”
WND also served up an anonymously written article featuring a tirade by the White House press secretary, headlined “‘It is not working!’ Karoline Leavitt verbally spanks CNN’s Kaitlan Collins after question targeting Gabbard.”