Release of Mueller Report Shows The Epoch Times’ Reporting Was Correct

(Getty Images/Illustration by The Epoch Times)

Release of Mueller Report Shows The Epoch Times’ Reporting Was Correct

Jasper Fakkert

Editor-in-Chief, U.S. Editions

April 18, 2019 Updated: May 20, 2019

   

Commentary
The release of the long-awaited report by special counsel Robert Mueller confirms reporting by The Epoch Times during the past two years.
While other media promoted the false narrative that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 elections, we stuck to the facts.
As early as May 2017, just over a week after the appointment of special counsel Mueller, we pointed out that there was no known evidence of collusion in an article headlined: “Despite Allegations, No Evidence of Trump–Russia Collusion Found.” The article was based on public statements by officials, including those involved in the joint intelligence agency investigation, which was overseen by the office of the Director of National Intelligence, into Russian interference.
During the past two years, we have closely followed all developments and found that in the course of the investigations no evidence of collusion had been presented.
To the contrary, any time an indictment was made by the special counsel related to Russia, it was made clear by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that no American had knowingly colluded with Russia.
Instead, through our reporting, we found a coordinated effort in the creation and distribution of false allegations that Trump colluded with Russia.
At the core of these efforts were the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. They had commissioned, and paid for, the creation of the so-called Steele dossier.
Authored by former British spy Christopher Steele, the dossier contained numerous unverified allegations that attempted to portray Trump as having been compromised by Russia.
We also learned through extensive documentation, including access to unreleased congressional testimonies by FBI and DOJ staff, that Steele had actively spread this false information to the FBI, DOJ, State Department, Congress, and the media.
This was done in coordination with Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS—the firm that oversaw the production of the dossier.
The FBI, for example, received the information contained in the dossier not only directly from Steele, but also through the State Department, and through high-ranking career DOJ official Bruce Ohr—whose wife worked for Fusion GPS, as well.
Many of the media organizations that had promoted the false allegations of Trump–Russia collusion had early access to the information in the dossier, as well.
Steele had testified in UK court documents that he had been instructed by Fusion GPS to provide briefings to media organizations based on the material, singling out The New York Times, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, The New Yorker, and CNN.
Separately, David Kramer, a long-time associate of late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said in a deposition that he had contact with more than a dozen media personnel about the dossier.
It was also Kramer who provided the dossier to Buzzfeed News, which eventually published the report in January 2017.
In all this, there was also coordination between high-ranking Obama administration officials.
It was former CIA Director John Brennan who, based on foreign intelligence on the Trump campaign, pushed then-FBI Director James Comey to open the investigation into the Trump campaign.
We also know that the agents working on the case, such as FBI agent Peter Strzok, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, and then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe were severely biased against Trump.
I invite all of you to read our ongoing coverage of the issue, which we now call the Spygate scandal.