NYT Trump Scoops Contain Key Disclaimer

Two scoops from The New York Times on a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer contain a key disclaimer about five paragraphs deep clarifying there is still “no evidence” of collusion.

Trump Jr. was promised dirt on Clinton from the Kremlin-connected lawyer ahead of the meeting, TheNYT reported Sunday. A follow up report Mondayrevealed Trump Jr. responded to the promise of dirt by saying “I love it.” The wider media is treating both reports as bombshells indicating the Trump campaign may have colluded with the Russian government to win the election.

The paper dumps cold water on the implication in both reports, however, by clarifying what the meeting does not prove.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the promised damaging information was related to Russian government computer hacking that led to the release of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails,” TheNYT notes in the fourth paragraph of the initial scoop.

And in the story Monday: “The precise nature of the promised damaging information about Mrs. Clinton is unclear, and there is no evidence to suggest that it was related to Russian-government computer hacking that led to the release of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails.”

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