• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flipboard
• Comments
• Print
• Email

Washington Post columnist admits media pushed Russiagate scandal and never found 'smoking gun'

The Washington Post’s Perry Bacon Jr., warned journalists to be cautious when reporting on President Trump’s alleged links to sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein to avoid a Russiagate situation, where the media insinuated collusion without proving it.

A Washington Post columnist admitted Thursday that mainstream journalists could never prove that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in 2016 despite their best efforts, suggesting it shouldn't have turned into such a media circus.

On "The Don Lemon Show" podcast, The Washington Post’s Perry Bacon Jr. warned Lemon and other journalists not to report too definitively about Trump’s alleged links to sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, in order to avoid a Russiagate situation in which the media insinuated collusion without proving it.

"You and I were covering the Russia thing a fair amount probably in 2017, 2018. We never really proved the thing we were sort of hinting at—that maybe [Vladimir] Putin and Trump are cheating and so on," Bacon said. 

‘BUTTER KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT': DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER RIPS HIS PARTY'S STRATEGY IN REDISTRICTING BATTLE

President Donald Trump. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

In the clip flagged by NewsBusters' associate editor Nicholas Fondacaro, Lemon remarked that Trump’s relationship with Epstein has broken into the previously uninterested mainstream media.

"After last night, I was like, ‘How should they be treating this story?’ And I ask because, look, this was sort of a Republican and a MAGA conspiracy theory, a la Pizzagate… initially," he said.

He noted how some outlets were interested in the story at the time, but said, "for the most part, sort of centrist media, they were not obsessed with this Epstein story." 

CNN'S ANDERSON COOPER SHOWS UP TO SUPPORT 'LATE SHOW' HOST STEPHEN COLBERT AFTER CANCELLATION

Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr., speaking on "The Don Lemon Show" Thursday.

(责任编辑：娱乐)

• ·发生“命案”？还有“枪战”？官方回应｜破谣局
• ·天猫怎么设置指纹支付
• ·稳居榜首！《刺客信条：影》成为今年欧洲最畅销新作
• ·英超新规来袭：门将持球时间延长，裁判沟通更高效！
• ·今日辟谣（2025年8月15日）
• ·日职联鹿岛遭福冈挑战，全北现代强势对决大邱FC
• ·JYP中国艺人姚琛 官宣与万达电影达成战略合作
• ·爱奇艺第二季度营收66.3亿元 经调净利润1470万元