Rudy Giuliani Gets a Reality Check on His Unhinged Russia Probe Claims

This is encouraging. A Fox News personality of some repute was willing to stand up to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s insanity.

I shouldn’t insinuate that it is just Rudy Giuliani’s insanity. Giuliani, having taken on the role of attorney for President Trump in the ongoing Russia probe is simply pushing the same line the administration has been wildly, blindly pushing from the beginning.

Specifically, the administration-approved line is that the infamous dossier, put together by a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, was the impetus for the entire Russia probe.

That’s just not true.

On Monday, Giuliani drug out the tired line with a new twist, claiming it was former CIA Director John Brennan who brought the dossier to the attention of special counsel, setting the year-long investigation into Russian meddling into motion.

He was speaking on one of the evening opinion shows, so there was virtually zero chance he would be challenged.

His claims, however, held no resemblance to truth.

Interestingly enough, his false narrative came several days before Trump revoked the security clearance of Brennan – and right in the middle of the Omarosa controversy.

Said Giuiliani:

“The guy running it is Brennan,” Giuliani said Monday. “Brennan took an affidavit, a dossier that unless he’s the biggest idiot intelligence agent that ever existed — although he never did much intelligence work — it’s false. You can look at it and laugh at it.”

“That led to the request for the investigation,” he continued. “So, he takes a false affidavit, a false dossier, he gets the senators involved, and a couple of Republican senators, and they demand an investigation. A totally phony investigation.”

Am I the only one who thinks this sounds kind of desperate? It definitely doesn’t resemble anything that anyone who has followed the investigation would recognize. It’s like he pulled it out of thin air, on the spot.

On Wednesday, Fox News’ Shep Smith took time during his show to fact check Giuliani.

“Much of Giuliani’s attack on Brennan involved the dossier compiled by the former British spy Christopher Steele, that the administration has repeatedly asserted was what began the Russia investigation,” Smith said on Wednesday.

“It was not,” Smith continued. “The Russia investigation began after the former Trump policy adviser George Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that the Russians had dirt on his then-political opponent Hillary Clinton. That information was passed on to intelligence officials.”

Exactly.

A drunken Papadopoulos – also called “low-level coffee boy” by the administration – boasted to an Australian diplomat about Russia’s help with the campaign.

That diplomat, out of concern, contacted his American counterparts and gave them the heads up.

You know, the kind of thing that should have happened when the Russian government reached out to the Donald Trump Jr. during the election, through a mutual friend, and offered campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton. Somebody in authority should have been contacted, and they never should have agreed to meet.

But, MAGA, or something.

Smith further pointed out:

“For context, the research in the dossier includes 17 memos produced by the former spy Christopher Steele,” Smith explained. “They allege misconduct and a conspiracy between members of the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election.”

“Some assertions in the dossier have been confirmed,” he continued. “Other parts are unconfirmed.”

“None of the dossier, to Fox News’s knowledge, has been disproven,” Smith added.

That’s an important distinction being missed by Trump’s defenders.

There’s a difference between “unconfirmed,” or unsubstantiated, and “disproven.”

“Disproven” would mean that the details have been studied, fact checked, and found to be without merit.

“Unconfirmed,” on the other hand, means that either the effort has not been put in to confirm the reported details, or investigators have been unable to confirm the details by any other means.

It doesn’t mean they’re not true. It just means we don’t know.

So where does that put the dossier?

On unsteady ground, to be sure, but not so much so that it shouldn’t be of a concern.

And no, John Brennan had nothing to do with kicking off the special counsel investigation, or the Russia probe, in general.

In fact, most people know special counsel was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, then later boasted to NBC News’ Lester Holt that he did it because of the “Russia thing.” It had nothing to do with the dossier OR John Brennan.

As the Trump administration continues to rant and rage against a lawful investigation that should be of great concern to all Americans, expect their claims to become bigger and increasingly unmoored from reality.

It’s just the Trump way.