RUSH: The real scandal — and I’ll put this in quotes. But the real “scandal” at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, while everybody is buzzing about the horrible and crude, not funny hate fest conducted by so-called comedienne, the real news of the evening is that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Association gave reporters Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez, and Carl Bernstein an award for their January 10th, 2017, report on the Steele dossier.

You know the story. Hillary Clinton, as in a work of art, commissions this thing as opposition research. She hires Fusion GPS, which then hires a law firm to make the payment to wash the money so that it’s not traceable back to Clinton. And they hire this Christopher Steele guy to go out and make up a bunch of garbage about Trump for the express purpose of using it as so-called legitimate intelligence on Trump that is designed to drive down public opinion on Trump so as to make it easy to get rid of him!

So the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Association gave Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez with be and Carl Bernstein an award for their January 10th report on the dossier, 2017. Now, we now know, folks, that their report was nothing but dictation from James Clapper. James Clapper was director national intelligence — DNI — during the Obama administration.

Just to make sure everybody understands DNI. After 9/11, the Bush administration and the government in general decided it needed to expand, that somehow they had missed 9/11. How did we miss this? How did our intelligence? Well, the reason we had missed it is because the Clinton administration decided to treat terrorism as a criminal act rather than enemy combatants. And so everything was done via the justice system and indictments.

And a wall was created by then Clinton associate Jamie Gorelick so that the FBI and the CIA could not share information with one another. Because something had happened where it was thought that these two organizations were punishing Americans and delving into the American people’s privacy in ways that wasn’t permitted, so there was a wall that developed. And the reason why we didn’t know 9/11 was coming, ’cause we did. But both agencies knew only part of it. If they had been allowed to combine what they knew, we might, might have had a little bit more of a heads up.

And so after that, the government decided it wasn’t big enough, and so it created the office of national intelligence. And this federal agency would be the clearinghouse for all intel. The CIA would send what it knows to the DNI. The FBI would send what it found out. The DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, everybody would send what they thought they knew to this new office of national intelligence. They created a brand-new bureaucracy.

Well, a guy named James Clapper served as director of the office of national intelligence for Obama, and he’s a left-wing hack. He is a partisan hack. And we know that Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez, and Carl Bernstein at CNN knew what they thought they knew about the dossier because Jim Clapper leaked the information to them.

Worse than that, it was all part of a calculated setup to give CNN a news hook so that they could start reporting on the Steele dossier and make it public. The Steele dossier had been known for months. It was floating around Washington, and everybody knew what it was. And everybody knew that it was unverified, uncorroborated. Everybody in the media knew that none of it could be established to have happened, none of it could be proved, none of it could be verified. But the media wanted it in the public domain.

How to do that? CNN needed a news hook. A news hook is a reason to report on it aside from its contents. You couldn’t report on the details ’cause none of it was verified. So they needed a way to get this thing known by the American people. The way this happened, James Clapper essentially told Comey to go brief Trump on the existence of the dossier.

That happened on January 6th of 2017. At that point news outlets, including CNN, BuzzFeed, Washington Post, they all have it. They’re looking for an excuse to run it. On January 6th, Clapper tells Comey to brief Trump on the dossier in case somebody runs with it. So Comey follows Clapper’s instructions and does a meeting with Trump where he tells him about the salacious details, such as the golden showers episode, the prostitutes peeing on the bed at the Moscow hotel where Obama and Michelle happened to stay and sleep.

So Comey, following Clapper’s instructions, tells Trump about it. Clapper leaks to CNN that Trump and Obama have been briefed on the dossier. Clapper then denies that he did this and then later had to admit that he had lied. Clapper told Comey to go tell Trump about it because that was gonna be CNN’s news hook. So after Comey on January 6th briefs Trump on the dossier, Clapper then goes to CNN and tells CNN that Trump has been briefed on the dossier, and Obama.

CNN has its hook. CNN now uses that detail and publishes its story on the dossier. After CNN published the story describing the dossier is when BuzzFeed dumps the whole thing. They published the whole thing with caveats galore. “We haven’t been able to verify it. We haven’t been able to corroborate it. This has been floating around Washington for a while but we at BuzzFeed think you, the American people, need to see it.”

Clapper, after BuzzFeed dumps the whole thing, Clapper denies that he leaked any of this to CNN. Then after Clapper gets caught — by the way, this is all in congressional reports now. None of this is up for grabs. This is all verified to have happened. Clapper denied that he was the leak to CNN that Comey had briefed Trump. When Clapper is caught, then he admits the leak, and after all of that, Clapper is hired by CNN as an analyst and as a commentator.

So, folks, on January 10th is when CNN did its story on Trump and the dossier. And it’s that January 10th story after Comey informed Trump and Clapper leaks to CNN that Comey’s told Trump, the White House Correspondents’ Association gives four reporters at CNN the big award of the year for uncovering a gigantic news story involving the Trump dossier.

This whole thing was a setup. When you look at the timeline of things that happened, it is obvious to anybody with even half a brain that Comey briefing Trump on the dossier was a setup designed — and set up by Clapper — designed to get the dossier into so-called mainstream news cycles, thereby bringing it to life.

Now, when Comey briefed Trump on it on January 6th he did it under the guise, “Mr. President, you need to see this. You need to see the kind of things that our intelligence agencies are gathering about you. You need to be aware of these kinds of things so you can trust your intelligence community to be truthful with you and to know of the potential pitfalls awaiting you out there.” All of that was a scam. All of it was a sham.

And Comey briefed Trump again in January on the 27th on the dossier for another similar reason. CNN wanted to publish the story. James Clapper made it possible, and then CNN hires James Clapper, and he’s still working there today, and he’s an Obama hack. And the White House Correspondents’ Association giving CNN its award of the year for their January 10th report on the dossier is an insult to anybody who knows what’s going on here.

This is like giving an award to a stenographer taking dictation, because that’s exactly what these reporters did. They didn’t uncover anything. The dossier had been in circulation for months. This was nothing more than a trick, a scam, what have you, to enable them to report it, despite nothing in it being verified or corroborated.

Now, if you have any doubt that the CNN article was the result of a setup, bear in mind that one of the reporters getting this award, Evan Perez, used to coauthor articles with Glenn Simpson, who’s the founder of Fusion GPS that ultimately hired Steele to write this dossier. They used to work at the Wall Street Journal together. Perez is still very close with Simpson and some of the other people at Fusion GPS.

But as I say, the real icing on this cake is the role of James Clapper. Clapper, along with John Brennan, told Comey to brief Trump on the dossier knowing CNN was looking for a hook to report this thing. And as soon as Comey briefed Trump, Clapper ran to CNN and Jake Tapper with the news. Tapper and CNN ran the story, for which they got an award last Saturday night. And then a few weeks later James Clapper is hired by CNN I guess for media reporter privilege.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I knew this was gonna happen. I checked the email during the break, and people ask, “Where did you find out about this Clapper stuff? How do you know this?” After 29-1/2 years, you still need to ask that question? I’ll tell you.

“Buried within a newly declassified congressional report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections is [the] shocking revelation” that I just shared with you that. “James Clapper not only leaked information about the infamous Steele dossier and high-level government briefings about it to CNN,” — not only that — “he also may have lied to Congress about the matter.

“In one of the findings within the 253-page report, the House Intelligence Committee wrote that Clapper leaked details of a dossier briefing given to then-President-elect Donald Trump [by Comey] to CNN’s Jake Tapper,” and then, according to the report, “lied to Congress [in testimony] about the leak” later. He had to admit the lie to get straight, and then CNN hired him a few months after all of this happened.

So it’s in a House Intelligence Committee report.

By the way, it’s not highlighted. It’s kind of buried in the 253-page report. It’s not something that the Intelligence Committee blared with. It’s not in a the press release of highlights from the report. It’s just one of the other findings. It’s a big deal. It perfectly illustrates the incestuous relationship that liberals have with government bureaucracies and agencies and the media. But to me, the highlight of this is that Jake Tapper and these other three guys at CNN literally were taking dictation, and they got an award for it from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Association on Saturday night.

And they’re walking up there all puffed up. “Job well done! We are really good journalists. Look what we uncovered…” You didn’t uncover anything. You didn’t dig up anything! A guy named James Clapper from the Obama administration came and told you about it. This is before Trump was inaugurated, folks. January 6th is when Comey briefs Trump; January 10th is when CNN runs their story! And they get an award for it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want you to listen to this. We actually have the audio of CNN being given this fake, this utterly phony award. You know, this is just me. But let’s say I’m me, I’m not Jake Tapper, I’m not anybody at CNN. Let’s say I get a leak. I’ll sitting here, I’m minding my own business, bothering nobody. I get a phone call and it’s some government official who’s giving me a piece of information that everybody wants but nobody has and I get the exclusive. And all I did was sit here and open an email. Okay?

And then I report it breathlessly. And the media goes bonkers and then somewhere down the road, as farfetched as this sounds, somebody gives me an award. I would turn it down. I would turn down the award on the basis I didn’t do anything but answer an email! I didn’t ferret it out. I didn’t hunt it down. I didn’t find it and independently confirm it. I simply took dictation. I wouldn’t accept the award ’cause I’m not into phoniness, as mayor of Realville.

So you’ve got to hear this. Now, again, the whole thing is a setup so that CNN can run the story on the dossier. Clapper, DNI, instructs Comey — now, stop and think of this. Comey’s out there denying there’s a deep state. Clapper at DNI calls Comey, says, “Comey, go brief Trump on the dossier.” Comey says, “Yes, sir.” Goes up and briefs Trump. After that Clapper calls CNN and says, “Guess what? The director of the FBI, I can tell you with good authority, has just informed the president of the dossier.”

CNN’s four reporters start having orgasms, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” Really? “Yes, I can confirm that this has happened.” So they run the story. Then Clapper lies about being the leak, then he turns around and admits that he’s the leak, and then CNN hires them. And then these guys all get an award for this? And here is how it happened Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

JONATHAN KARL: The Merriman Smith award for broadcast goes to Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto, Jake Tapper and Carl Bernstein of CNN. These four journalists and a number of other CNN reporters broke the story that the intelligence community had briefed President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump that Russia had compromising information about Mr. Trump. The CNN team later reported that then-FBI Director James Comey personally briefed Trump about the dossier.

RUSH: That’s why I say this is the scandal of the night, not the comedian. This. There is no scandalous information about President Trump! To this day the dossier remains unverified and uncorroborated. There’s not a word of truth in it. “These four reporters had compromising information about Mr. Trump. The CNN team later reported that then-FBI director James Comey personally briefed Trump about the dossier that Russia had compromising information about Mr.” Trump. Total BS. Total BS.

Look at the sanctimony. These guys didn’t report anything! They didn’t break anything in terms of the story. They took dictation. This is how serious these people take themselves, folks. And this whole thing was organized, it was structured. I also got an email, “What do you mean, Rush, all these Hollywood people funding the investigation, the dossier?” You haven’t heard this. Let me pass this on to you.

“A group of wealthy donors from New York and California have forked out 50 million –” now, remember something as I go through this. When Comey briefed Trump about the dossier, he did not tell Trump where it came from. He didn’t tell Trump that it was the product of the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC. He did not say that it was bought and paid for by the Hillary campaign. He did not, to this day, he told Bret Baier last Thursday night that he doesn’t even know that to this day, which cannot be true! But that’s his story, and he’s sticking with it.

This is an additional investigation. These guys did not pay their $50 million along with Hillary and whatever she paid. This $50 million was forked over after Steele came up with nothing. These people have so much hate that when Steele’s dossier failed, they hired him again! In this case, a group of wealthy donors, New York and California, paid $50 million to fund a Russia investigation by Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS, and a former Senate staffer for Dianne Feinstein. A former staffer for Dianne Feinstein was in on this!

That is also reported. It’s in a footnote in the House Intelligence Committee newly released report on Russian interference in the campaign. While the dossier project failed to help Hillary Clinton win the presidency, Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele have continued their work. And that’s according to statements from the former Feinstein staffer. His name is Daniel Jones. He runs the Penn Quarter Group. It’s a consulting group in Washington. The former staffer for Feinstein was working with these millionaires to pay Christopher Steele to deep digging.

In other words, this investigation is separate and apart from the Hillary campaign funded Steele investigation that gave us the Steele dossier. It began later. It continues to this day. Steele is still digging. After coming up with nothing, these rich Democrat donors from New York and California remain unsatisfied. Their unbridled hate is separating them from their money. They are so convinced that the pee tape exists. That’s what this all is.

And folks, do not be surprised, like I said last week, if out of nowhere there is a grainy, black and white video of some people urinating on a bed down the road. Do not be surprised. When you pay $50 million to an investigator, he better come up with something. After Hillary had paid whatever she paid to the DNC — and their payments to Steele were in the millions as well.

The House report states that in March 2017, Daniel Jones, the former Feinstein staffer, told the FBI about a project he’s working on with Steele and Fusion GPS paid for $250 million by seven to 10 wealthy donors from New York and California. They’ve got it on the brain. They’re so convinced that all of this is true that if they just pay more money to the guy they paid all these millions to and came up empty, if they give him another 50, he’ll come up with something.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want you to listen to a sound bite from Jim Comey. I’m going back in time here. Remember the story: CNN gets this gigantic award at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday for breaking the story that Comey had presented the dossier to Trump. That was the hook that got the dossier into mainstream media. But we have since learned from the House Intelligence Committee report that James Clapper instructed Comey to inform Trump about the dossier, then Clapper told CNN that Comey was gonna do it.

So CNN runs the story. Clapper first lies about this and then has to correct the lie under congressional testimony. On January 6th, Comey presents the dossier to Trump. On January 10th, 2017, CNN runs their earth-shattering story. And it was nothing more than a gigantic setup to get the dossier in the public news domain. Sunday Meet the Press, Chuck Todd interviewing Comey. Chuck Todd says, “When you told Trump the contents of the Steele dossier, did you get the impression it was the first time he had ever heard these allegations?”

COMEY: Yes, and I didn’t give him the briefing on the whole Steele dossier. My assignment was to brief him on a small part of it that was salacious and personal, and my sense was… I didn’t get a sense that he knew about those.

RUSH: “My assignment was…”? He’s the FBI director. What assignment? So Comey has kind of stepped in it here is my point. “Well, I didn’t give him the briefing in the whole Steele dossier, but my assignment was to brief him on a small part of it that was salacious and personal. My sense was I didn’t get a sense that he knew.” Notice Chuck Todd’s not interested in following up on whether Comey told Trump that Hillary had paid off this.

Chuck’s not interested in that because to Chuck Todd, that’s not news. It’s no big deal, who paid for it. “My assignment was to brief him…”? So what Comey’s saying here is, “I only told him about the golden showers. I only told him about the prostitutes peeing on the bed.” Well, we know now that it was James Clapper and Brennan at the CIA that told Comey to go do this. The aim was not to inform Trump. It was to give them an excuse to let CNN run the story.