Silence of the Lambs: The Media Ignores Declassified Documents on the Manufacturing of the Russian Conspiracy

1910 Movie “The Girl Reporter”

Consider this story: An outgoing president and his top officials are told that there is no evidence of Russian collusion or influence in the national election. The White House then moved to suppress the intelligence assessment and reverse the conclusions, while false claims were leaked to the press.

That is not just a major but a Pulitzer-level story, right?

Apparently not. The legacy media has largely ignored the declassified evidence and possible criminal referral on the Obama administration seeding the Russian collusion narrative just before the first Trump Administration.

It supports allegations in the real Russian conspiracy: the conspiracy to create a false Russian collusion scandal to undermine the election and administration of Donald Trump in 2016.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard suggested last week that intelligence was “manufactured and politicized” despite countervailing conclusions from American intelligence that there was no collusion or influence on the election.

Critics have noted that CBS only covered the story to refute it.

The release of this information is historically significant, as it finally allows the public to see how this effort began with the Clinton campaign and was then actively cultivated by Obama officials.

We previously learned that the Clinton campaign spent millions to create the infamous Steele dossier and then hid their role from the public.

Attorney Marc Elias, the general counsel to the Clinton presidential campaign, pushed the false Alfa Bank conspiracy. (His fellow Perkins Coie partner, Michael Sussmann, was indicted but acquitted in a criminal trial.)

During the campaign, reporters asked about the possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement in the Steele Dossier. When journalists discovered after the election that the Clinton campaign hid payments for the Steele dossier as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie, they met with nothing but shrugs from the Clinton staff.

New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Elias denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”

Elias was back when John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was questioned by Congress on the Steele dossier and denied categorically any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.

Not only did Clinton reportedly spent over $10 million on the report, but Obama was briefed that she was going to create a Russian collusion narrative as part of her campaign.

Aware of that Clinton effort, these new documents suggest that Obama and his aides actively sought to affirm the allegations just before Trump’s inauguration. The FBI then ramped up its own efforts despite also being told that the Steele dossier was unreliable and contradicted.

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. However, there are good-faith allegations raised about prior congressional testimony of key players in the Obama Administration. There may be viable criminal allegations ranging from perjury to obstruction to making false statements to federal investigators.

It is too early to gauge the basis for possible criminal charges. However, the release of this new evidence is both historically and legally significant. There is now a legitimate concern over a conspiracy to create this false narrative to undermine the incoming Administration. It proved successful in derailing the first Trump Administration. By the time the allegations were debunked, much of the first term had been exhausted. That is worthy of investigation and the public has a right to expect transparency on these long withheld documents.

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.

209 thoughts on “Silence of the Lambs: The Media Ignores Declassified Documents on the Manufacturing of the Russian Conspiracy”

  1. FAKE NEWS !!!!!!

    This story is completely bogus
    A quintessential example of FAKE NEWS.

    This report by Gabbard is based on an intelligence assessment from January, 2017, AFTER the election.
    The assessment was requested to determine if there was any evidence that Russia had hacked or compromised voting machines, or altered vote counts in the 2016 election.
    The assessment concluded that Russia had not compromised voting machines or vote counts.

    Gabbard has tried to extrapolate this narrow assessment to infer that all the claims of Russia’s attempts to affect the election by influencing social media accounts and attempted hacking of email systems are necessarily false.
    Keep in mind that the Republican Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed that Russia had attempted to interfere with the election using these means.

    Gabbard is trying to say that Obama suppressed evidence that Russia had not interfered in the election in any way and deliberately promulgated a “hoax” of interference, even though Republicans had already confirmed Russian interference.

    1. What Gabbard is saying, as opposed to what you’re trying to pass off, is that regardless of what Russia was doing, the Obama/Biden/Clinton cabal was conspiring to foist knowingly false intelligence in order to hamstring the incoming Trump administration. There is no denying this fact. You somehow lost sight of the forest for the trees.

    2. So you’re saying someone Republicans bought into the hoax as well? Buying some internet ads doesn’t not constitute materially affecting the election, the finding by the intelligence community.

      1. The senate committee of the time was stacked to the gills with RINOs and Never Trumpers. Hardly impartial. The Republicans were supposedly in charge, but if you paid any attention, it might as well have been the Democrats running it.

      2. So you have no problem with foreign adversaries buying ads to influence American voters.
        Sounds very unAmerican to me.

        1. How do you feel about the BIden-Harris junta funding foreign NGOs to try to overthrow the government of our ally Israel? That sounds a little bit more scandal-y than some Russian dopes buying a few Facebook ads.

          What does that sound like to you?

        2. Not as much as I have for sanctuary cities and noncitizens voting in our elections…or for the former Presidents crackhead son selling influence to them.

          Try again Scarecrow

        3. Do I have a problem with foreign adversaries trying to influence our elections? Yes, I do. Just like I have a problem with us trying to influence elections in foreign countries. Did you had forgotten that the Obama Administration tried to the Israeli parliamentary elections in 2015 to oust Netanyahu using taxpayers’ money?

          “Netanyahu pollster: Obama role in election larger than reported” – The Hill
          “Bipartisan Report Finds Obama Campaign Advisor Used Federal Money to Build Anti-Netanyahu Campaign Organization” – AEI
          “Obama admin. sent taxpayer money to campaign to oust Netanyahu” – The Washington Times

          Or don’t you care about any of that?

          Besides the ads that foreign adversaries spent wasn’t meant to influence us to vote for Trump in 2016. It was meant to sow political discord among us. After all, the ads were all over the place, some favoring Trump, yes, but also some were for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And boy, did those adversaries got their money worth, even to this day.

          “Congress releases all 3,000-plus Facebook ads bought by Russians” – CNET

          1. The adds bought by the IRA were almost all run AFTER the election. They were badly produced, influenced no one, evenly divided between pro-clinton, pro-sanders and pro-trump.

            And there is little evidence that many people saw them.
            And no evidence they had any effect.

            Separately – No – I do not care if Russia tries to “influence” US elections by SPEECH.

            There is nothing we can do about it, nothing we should do about it, and it is almost certainly counter productive.

            What REALLY MATTERS, is when the US government directly or indirectly tries to influence US elections.

            And we have ample evidence of that under Obama and Biden, as well as by deep state actors under Trump trying to undermine Trump.

            That is VERY DANGEROUS.

            The one party that CAN NOT attempt to influence US elections is the US govenrment.

        4. “So you have no problem with foreign adversaries buying ads to influence American voters”
          Correct. It is called free speech.

          Foreign governments speak about our elections all the time.
          US elections are featured on BBC, Various foreign leaders and ministers speak for and against U candidates.

          “Sounds very unAmerican to me.”
          It is quintessentially american. ‘

          If you actually beleive in democracy – you MUST trust voters to sort out what they are going to choose – to make their own decisions – including deciding Who’s speech they will listen too.
          those of you on the left want people to vote – but you want to make sure you tightly control what they are able to hear before voting.

      3. Russia’s Internet Research Agency posted on Facebook as Americans. They encouraged Trump supporters to band together.

    3. I have not paid much attention to What Gabbard has said – mostly because it is mostly old news.
      Most of it was reported – though not widely in 2017.

      Those capable of critical thinking and paying attention to the news and able to weigh the credibility of different reporting, knew in 2017 that the Steele Dossier was a Hoax, that the Alpha bank s.tory was a Hoax, that Russia had not hacked our election – I can go on and on about the false garbage reported by the MSM and the left.

      They also were aware of credible reporting that the FBI and CIA and other Alphabet agencies, as well as Obama and Biden were knowingly involved in diseminating these Hoaxes.

      You say Gabbards story is only a tiny one – Pretty sure that is false. But it does not matter.
      Because the well documented TRUTH is not tiny. The only thing new here is that more and more peopleare waking up to the immoral, unethical and probably illegal conduct of the Obama and Biden administrations with regard to all of this.

      1. “Pretty sure”, “probably”… meaning you’re not certain the claims are true. Gabbard is trying hard to help Trump distract the public from the Epstein files fiasco. It must be far more damaging for Trump to have the files released if they have to go this far and to have Republicans leave the captiol early just to avoid dealing with the scandal.

        This scandal is of Trump and his administration’s own making. They stoked the conspiracies surrounding the Epstein files for years using it againt Democrats and now they cannot tamp down the suspicion and questions when Trump’s administration is doing the same thing MAGA accused Biden of doing. Hiding the truth.

        The Russia hoax accusations are nothing but a distration and this is why the media is not paying attention to it. It’s so obvious about what Trump is trying desperately to do. He wants to distract, deflect, and pretty much avoid anything about Epstein which makes him look even more guilty of something that is more likely to be in those files that implicates him. He put himself in to this quandary now he can’t get himself out of it because of MAGA’s obsession with conspiracy theories and the never ending rabbit holes they go into to keep them alive.

        Trump will have to appease MAGA by relseasing significant and relevant new information they expect. Anything less will keep MAGA believing Trump is stil hiding something making him look guilty.

        1. Georgina, did you ever in touch with President Harris? I’m sure that she could set you straight here, being such a genius. If you’re not going to be in Washington, DC, you can always call her at the White House using her number: 202-456-1414.

          Please let us know how it goes!

  2. Most reporters are not keen on making a case against themselves in spreading of these false claims.

    They can not help themselves. Like addicts taking another hit on the crack pipe, they prefer to lose than give up their spreading of false claims. To wit, the Associated Press lost in Federal court again.

    September Term, 2024 1:25-cv-00532-TNM

    Filed On: July 22, 2025
    United States Court of Appeals

    Associated Press,
    Appellee

    v.

    Taylor Budowich, in his official capacity as White House Deputy Chief of Staff, et al.,
    Appellants

    O RDE R

    Upon consideration of the emergency petition for rehearing en banc, construed as a motion for en banc reconsideration and vacatur of the court’s June 6, 2025 order granting in part appellants’ motion for a stay pending appeal, and the response thereto, it is ORDERED that the motion be denied.
    Per Curiam

    https://media.cadc.uscourts.gov/orders/docs/2025/07/25-5109LDEN.pdf

  3. I am not surprised by MSM trying to ignore the Russia Russia story/Obama led Russia Conspiracy to hinder or overthrow Trump. Reminds me of the move Casablanca, “I am shocked their is Gambling in Ricks Cafe as he collects his winnings” This whole affair has Legs and hopefully people go to Jail and those who were wrongfully smeared etc had to hire lawyers sue the Obama/Clinton Team for everything they have. In the end once it gets to the courts or plea deals MSM will be forced to cover this story.

  4. I lived in D.C. during Watergate and followed the unfolding story in WaPO plus national news sources. And I thought at the time that this was the biggest political scandal of my lifetime. What the Democrat Party and it’s henchmen in the media tried to do to Donald Trump during his first term in office makes Watergate look like a birthday party in the park. “Dirty tricks” (like breaking into the Watergate offices of the DNC) HA! Compared to the shit pulled by the Dems (so many of them!) this go-round, Watergate was a piddling affair.

  5. A series of 30+ video clips of Professor Turley being interviewed by Doug Monroe at “Praxis Circle” were recently posted to Youtube. Here is the first video clip where JT discusses the metaphysical.

    1. Prof Turley’s voluminous testimony before the senators get too little attention imho .. .

  6. The silence of the legacy is not at all surprising in the intervening time that they have literally and unironically become Pravda, and continue to be Pravda in the midst of their nearly abject rejection in a free society. That is all that matters to me; they have been exposed, and in those acts have only further exposed themselves. They deserve every ounce of our disdain. Show me one example of anyone in that milieu saying, ‘No, that is a bridge too far. My ethics prevent it.’. There are quite literally, zero, ZERO.

    Let us look forward to the coming months when the dem party’s approval is in the single digits, because that is where it is going. These people have no idea what a minority they are, such is their hubris; but that likely in turn delights them as they view themselves a separate and superior class and offers them validation of that stupidity.

    1. James,
      Well said!
      With the latest Democrat, Obama led attempted coup scandal, I have been wondering how will this affect the mid-terms. Will sane and normal, traditional Democrats ignore this scandal? Or will they acknowledge that their party is truly lost as Jame Carville recently noted, “Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided. These are the words I hear my fellow Democrats using to describe our party as of late. The truth is they’re not wrong: The Democratic Party is in shambles.”
      He is not wrong.
      Sane, normal, traditional Democrats, take back your party.

      1. @Upstate

        No doubt. I voted for Obama in 2008, and it was clear to me what he was about halfway through that term; in 2012, hell no.

        Seriously: that dude is a snake, through and through. The past 16 years were a downward spiral I don’t think our country had seen previously, not leveraged over time, anyway, though I know some of those ideas were always hanging around in the background. I know he will never be properly brought to task, but we see him now, most of us, and that is all that matters. We will do better going forward, and I really think we will. If I could take back my vote, I would.

  7. A series of 30+ video clips of Professor Turley being interviewed by Doug Monroe at “Praxis Circle” were recently posted to Youtube. Here is the first video clip where JT discusses the metaphysical.

  8. If this is not a treasonous act (and I agree with you that it is not), will this latest chapter of American Presidential politics become just another “dirty tricks?

  9. Dear Mr. Turley, thanks again for a great article. The legacy media won’t touch this story as it will put their cronies from the Democratic Party in a bad light. All we will be able to hope for is that in a few years (like the laptop story) the media will realize they have missed out on the most important story in their lifetime.

    1. Like you said, the lamestream media purposely won’t report it, they are not “missing out.” They are nothing but propaganda engines for the Dems. The good news is that their audience has drastically shrunk as people realize what they are. The new media is basically taking over the field and there’s nothing the lamestream media can do about it. Trump has been a big help in that. “CNN” will never again be uttered without a mental association with “fake news.” MSNBC can never again be said without thinking “MSDNC.” Their brand is kaput. They will hold onto a small, dedicated fringe contingent of mentally ill, brainwashed leftists, but there is only so much money that they can earn from that ever-shrinking group of people.

      1. OldManFromKS,
        You are correct. Are they so brainwashed that they will willingly hemorrhage money to keep spouting the DNC narrative/lies? Seems so as I read that Colbert said to not only Trump but CBS/Paramount to “F__k off!” Can we expect for the next ten months of having to suffer from Colbert’s TDS to continue to sink The Late Show’s ratings? Be interesting to watch and see. Be even more interesting to see if in the light of even more sinking ratings, CBS opts to buy out Colbert’s contract and air re-runs of The Late Show with David Letterman.

      2. You’re half right .. . Trump is not the answer to anyone’s hopes and dreams but his own.

        *assuming Trump has hopes and dreams.

        1. Seems to me, Trump’s hopes and dreams are to MAGA. And that is what American voters voted for. Certainly not on word salad Harris and Tampon Tim’s “Joy.”

          1. Well, seems to me, notwithstanding ‘word salad Harris and Tampon Tim’s’ looney tunes, Trump has done absolutely nothing – zero – to make America great again .. . if such a thing is possible.

            The world is not more peaceful and prosperous – on day one or any other day. Just the opposite, in fact.

            Gas just jumped 30 cents/gal. Eggs are still $5/doz. This on top of Biden’s autopen inflationary pressures.

            We’re the laughing stock of the world .. . and it’s only going to get worse.

            *he’s quite mad you know.

            1. ‘word salad Harris and Tampon Tim’s’ looney tunes, Trump has done absolutely nothing…”

              Dime-Store Goebbels Snowden, a Nazi wannabe child, wants to throw sand at everyone to give his people a chance.

              1. This past weekend 18 count large eggs = $2.99, gasoline = $2.79 / gallon, Reduced fat 2% Milk = $2.79/gallon. I’m happy!

                1. Children don’t generally shop, so we can’t fault them for not knowing much. I see the same falling prices where I live.

                  I might have missed the Turley interview had you not posted it, so thanks. Though I haven’t finished it, the interview shows Turley to be an unusual and insightful person. His students are very lucky.

        2. Some do not know how to tie their shoelaces while playing pundit and tripping over them. Trump succeeded in doing much of what the public wanted and deserved. He will be known as one of our greatest Presidents. You don’t like Trump because he won’t let the Nazis cross the border.

  10. Legacy media ?? People still watch that stuff ?? How lame. The real media is ablaze with this story as well as social media.

    1. There are still pockets of deniers in so-called new “real” media.

      Take The Free Press, for example…

      The Gabbard documents dropped on Friday and here by midday on Tuesday and The Free Press has not a word about this story on its web site.

      I had been thinking seriously off adding The Free Press to my list of new media subscriptions. But I held off, because I wasn’t totally convinced they were legit.

      This lack of interest in this major story unfavorable to the legacy of the Obama administration is proof that I was right to hesitate.

      Zebras and stripes, forever united.

      1. videosavant,
        If I know The Free Press, as a paying subscriber, they are waiting and or doing real investigative journalism into the documents before they report on the story. They know full well rather then jumping to baseless conclusions, as MSM does, it is in their best interest for their credibility to get everything right, the facts, then write a report. They, unlike MSM, understands and knows what journalistic integrity is.

        This your first time commenting on the good professor’s blog? No sarc implied.

    2. Sandwich,
      People who enjoy being lied to, gaslight and told what to think still watch CNN, MSNBC, listen to NPR, read the NYT or the WaPo. The rest of us, yes, we are watching, reading and waiting to see what else is coming to light. We are also conducting our own analysis based off what we know. Like thinking people do.
      The Epstein thing, as I stated elsewhere, there are a lot of powerful, rich, well connected people who want those files to stay in the dark. Democrats, Republicans, world leaders, celebrities, royal family. Only when and IF anything is truly disclosed is when I will care. Until then, I suspect there are a lot of people pressuring Trump, Congress, to keep those files in the dark.

      1. We no longer have legitimate news media. We should just call it what it is–the confirmation bias industry.

  11. My podcast the “Trump Assassination Files” since 2017 and everything we are hearing is already known … Tuesday night 8-10 PM Revolution.Radio and Rumble

  12. The media are not uncomfortable. To the contrary, they bask in their lies and propaganda. Pathological shamelessness.

  13. Just like today’s “Hunter Biden Scandal” piece, I didn’t read this POS either–its a waste of time, and is part of the deflection strategy–to deflect attention away from the Epstein scandal and Trump’s involvement and his lie about releasing the entire Epstein file–so, they release the FBI file on MLK, full of salacious and unproven accusations against him. That strategy didn’t work, so now we’re going after “Russia Russia Russia” by attacking non-MAGA media, mostly to try to keep the faithful believing MAGA lies. Uh, Turley–the Epstein scandal and Trump’s involvement are not going to go away. Trump made a deliberately false promise to release all of the Epstein information–something he NEVER intended to do, and people aren’t going to forget. No amount of “Hunter Biden scandal” stories or “Joe is demented” stories, or “Russia, Russia, Russia” stories is going to kill this one.

    1. Speaker Johnson has ‘no concern’ about questioning Obama over Russia election interference hoax
      “If it’s uncomfortable for him, he shouldn’t have been involved in overseeing this, which is what it appears to us has happened,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said
      https://justthenews.com/government/congress/speaker-johnson-has-no-concern-about-questioning-obama-over-russia-election

      THIS scandal is not going away. THIS scandal, is in the real interest of all Americans.
      How marvelous!

      1. “Speaker Johnson has ‘no concern’ about questioning Obama over Russia election interference ”

        Frankly, I would much prefer to see this pursued entirely and exclusively by Trump’s DOJ, than to give that spineless quisling Johnson and some of the other duplicitous GOP Congresscritters any opportunity to eff up the pursuit of justice for these acts, either accidentally, or intentionally.

      2. Upstate: so, we are supposed to believe skunk-haired pizza-faced Tulsi Gabbard over the REPUBLICAN Senate Intelligence Committee that agreed that Russian hackers DID help Trump in 2016?

        1. “skunk-haired pizza-faced”

          Wow, that’s some argument there, Gigi. You’ve really won us over!

          And considering that the senate committee was stacked with back-stabbing RINOs and Never Trumpers, I think we can safely dismiss any supposed work product as a partisan fantasy.

          1. “considering that the senate committee was stacked with back-stabbing RINOs and Never Trumpers, I think we can safely dismiss any supposed work product as a partisan fantasy”

            EXfrigginACTLY!

      3. It’s the entire reason Biden ran for office. He couldn’t be investigated for 4 tears enough time to hide the extorted money he and the big guy Obama needed to put away. The election was rigged.

    2. Classified Report on Hillary Clinton, Loretta Lynch, and James Comey Finally Released
      “After a long wait, a classified annex to Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 2018 report on the FBI, Loretta Lynch, and Hillary Clinton comes out, with bizarre details”
      — Matt Taibbi
      https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=1042&post_id=168937250&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=b4a3o&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxODY3NTQ5MiwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTY4OTM3MjUwLCJpYXQiOjE3NTMyMTE4MjUsImV4cCI6MTc1NTgwMzgyNSwiaXNzIjoicHViLTEwNDIiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.5d4gJ2f1jm_FQhGAFJrACo33JAz7k5Sm8TRi-xQ0H24

      More Democrat scandals that are not going to go away.
      This is what real journalism looks like. Not that stuff on CNN or MSNBC.

    3. Gigi/Natasha, would you care to comment on the 26 trips Bill Clinton took on Epstein’s “Lolita Express?” 5 of which were without SS detail? Whom else could be affected by the release of the Epstein files? Bill Gates perhaps?
      Oh! My! Now we have evidence of an Obama attempted coup like situation to undermine the first Trump WH admin and you want to dismiss it as MAGA media? Oh. Only someone who is brainwashed, watches CNN and MSNBC and is told what to think by those DNC propagandists would readily accept MSM/DNC lies.
      Thank you for pointing that out how brainwashed you truly are!
      How marvelous!

      1. Upstate: did you forget that a REPUBLICAN Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Russian hackers did help Trump’s campaign? NO ONE cares about Bill Clinton any more. NO ONE has to attempt a coup to “undermine” Trump–he is both stupid and incompetent. And, stop calling me by other peoples’ names.

        1. Again, GIGI, the senate committee was stacked withRINOs and Never Trumpers. Whatever they concluded was undoubtedly biased and is best forgotten… as it has been by everyone of importance. Seriously, nobody but partisans, like you, even mention it, and that’s because the report was partisan garbage, like you.

  14. *. It’s all about money and plain robbery. 37 trillion to be in the ballpark.

    We are NOT God’s favorite
    people , PT. Someone please reset AI.

  15. Have you heard the saying “Don’t Assume…it makes an a__ of both you and me”.

    Unlike Article III courts (designed to obtain truth under oath and under perjury), any intelligence service, in any government “assumes” and “guesses” much of their information.

    Not to disparage our brave intelligence personnel but it’s never 100% certain. These agencies generally make calculated-guesses and assumptions.

    Like constructing a building, if you get the foundation wrong. Everything built upon it is wrong or misleading also. When the construction collapses, the agency heads (politicians) don’t blame themselves.

    Bottom line: you can have good intelligence personnel that honestly believe the calculated-guesses but get it entirely wrong. Then everybody goes into CYA mode due to corrupt politicians looking for scapegoats. Kind of opposite the military model where the Captain of the ship accepts responsibility. Probably nobody knows what really happened, not even the intel agencies.

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