Media never proved Trump colluded with Putin in 2016 election, found no 'smoking gun': WaPo columnist

WASHINGTON, DC: The Washington Post's columnist Perry Bacon Jr said on Thursday, August 7, that mainstream media could never prove that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election, despite their efforts, adding that it shouldn't have turned into such a media circus.

Bacon Jr appeared on 'The Don Lemon Show' podcast and warned Don Lemon and other journalists not to report too definitively about Trump’s alleged links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, to avoid a "Russiagate" situation where the media suggested collusion without proving it.

Columnist urges media to show some restraint on Jeffrey Epstein stories

During the podcast, Perry Bacon Jr told Don Lemon, "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."

Meanwhile, the podcast clip showed that Lemon remarked that Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein broke into the previously uninterested mainstream media.

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

In the podcast, Lemon then asked Bacon Jr how he felt about the media now taking an interest in it and peppering Trump with questions about the topic.

Bacon Jr said, "Yeah, I mean, the media’s now covering it. I think people were slow to it, but I think people are onto it."

However, he also urged the media to show some restraint on the subject to avoid another "Russiagate" narrative that turned up zero smoking guns on Trump's alleged collusion with the Kremlin to steal the 2016 election.

Bacon Jr further said, "It was sort of obvious that Putin wanted Trump to win, but I’m not sure we got the sort of smoking gun."

"So, I think people should cover this, cover this aggressively, but not — it shouldn’t turn into like, every hour on MSNBC is Epstein, cause also, there’s a lot of other problems," he added.

The columnist then said, "What’s happening in Texas is a big story," referring to Texas Republicans pushing a redistricting vote with Democratic lawmakers fleeing the state to block it.

Pam Bondi targets Barack Obama officials with grand jury probe into 'Russia hoax'

Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered a grand jury investigation into whether former President Barack Obama administration officials broke federal laws in their handling of the probe into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election, revealed a senior Donald Trump administration official.

It follows criminal referrals that were sent in July by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who accused Obama and top officials of orchestrating a "treasonous conspiracy" against Trump.

The one-page directive instructs an unnamed federal prosecutor to start presenting evidence to a grand jury for potential indictments.

Interestingly, Gabbard recently declassified and released documents that she claims show "manufactured and politicized intelligence" during the Obama era.

Moreover, Fox News, which first reported the order, claimed Bondi believed the referrals raised "clear cause for deep concern."

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of weaponizing government powers to distract from controversies, including the Epstein files.

A former senior Justice Department official said the order was "a dangerous political stunt", and another ex-security official said there was "no logical, rational basis for this."