Howie Kurtz: Trump Covering Up Russia Stuff Is OK…If There’s No Russia Stuff
In case you hadn’t noticed, the story of possible Russian collusion from Donald Trump‘s campaign and administration has been a big one everywhere in the media… except for Fox News. At Fox, they’ve preferred to talk about how that isn’t a story, giving various reasons and even trying to turn other non-stories into stories in the process. (Notably, that led to a firestorm and a retraction on one occasion.)
Today, though, Fox News’ top media reporter framed the Russia conversation in a new and even more convoluted way.
Howard Kurtz wrote that there is no Russia story, so it’s totally fine that evidence keeps emerging that suggests Trump has been trying to shut down investigations into it all. Here, look at his words:
If you stop and think about it, the flood of leaks to the press over the last 10 days have mainly involved allegations and suggestions of the president trying to derail the investigation. That’s pretty much been the narrative since he fired Jim Comey.
As [Byron York] writes, “More and more, day after day, Trump’s adversaries believe that, when it comes to bringing down the president, it might not matter if collusion occurred or not. A cover-up would be enough to do the job.”
This sounds rather counterintuitive. Doesn’t there have to be an underlying crime?
In legal terms, no. Lots of people are prosecuted for obstruction of justice, or lying to investigators, regardless of whether they committed any other crime.
Politically, he said, Trump can rely on a failure to document any collusion. Ultimately, “‘Pushing back’ may not look good, but also wouldn’t necessarily be illegal.”
This framework, then, pre-positions Trump’s cover-ups as some sort of vindication and suggests that only active collusion is a crime. That’s not how this works. That’s not what the American people want to see.
The reason the story of the possible Russian collusion has taken off is that citizens are worried about it. No amount of mental gymnastics justifying Trump’s attempt to curtain investigations will put them at ease.
UPDATE 12:35 PM ET: Kurtz responded to this piece via a series of tweets, stating that his column was “distorted.”
Mediaite just distorted my column on Trump. Of course obstruction of justice, if proven, matters. Covered many cases as a DOJ reporter 1/
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 24, 2017
I say in the piece that lots of people go to jail for obstruction, even if there's no underlying crime. Any such charge would be huge /2
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 24, 2017
And I've praised some of the recent reporting. But also question, given murky allegations, whether there's much evidence in Russia probe /3
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 24, 2017
But it does dilute things politically if the stories are all about who said what to whom and focus on Russia "collusion" fades /4
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 24, 2017
I reserve judgment on what the investigation will find. Flynn's got problems. Comey testimony important. But situation remains muddled /5
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 24, 2017
Nothing I wrote supports Mediaite's ludicrous headline that Kurtz says covering up Russia is OK. Piece also asserts Trump coverup as fact /6
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) May 24, 2017
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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
