Media outlet cites transparency in publishing Trump-Russia dossier
BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief said via Twitter on Tuesday night that his news organization was seeking transparency when it opted to publish a dossier of allegations by Russian operatives who say they have obtained information that could be damaging to President-elect Donald Trump and former White House contender Hillary Clinton.
Ben Smith said in a note to staff and shared via Twitter that the organization opted to share the intelligence report on information Russia's allegations so that readers could make up their own minds. The dossier that was presented to President Obama and to Trump last week was obtained by reporter Ken Bensinger.
Reports by BuzzFeed, CNN and other news organizations indicate that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about the Republican president-elect, as well as information damaging to former Democratic White House candidate Hillary Clinton.
"Our presumption is to be transparent in our journalism and to share what we have with our readers," Smith wrote. "We have always erred on the side of publishing. In this case, the document was in wide circulation at the highest levels of American government and media."
He noted that there is "serious reason" to doubt the allegations.
The allegations in the documents were first referenced by Mother Jones last week.
Trump blasts intel officials: 'Are we living in Nazi Germany?'
David Corn, Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones and analyst for MSNBC, said via Twitter, "For those asking, I didn't publish the full memos from the intelligence operative because I could not confirm the allegations."
CNN opted not to report on details of the memos, but did speak to various high ranking officials to corroborate what they said, according to CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter.
In its story, CNN noted that some of the allegations were first reported in Mother Jones.