The CIA and the Media: Historical Fact #71

In a controversial set of exchanges with former Sputnik editor Bill Moran, longtime author and journalist Kurt Eichenwald described himself as being “deeply wired into the intelligence community,” further counseling Moran that writing for the Russian outlet was not helpful for his career. The two were drawn together when Moran accidentally published an email released by Wikileaks between Sidney Blumenthal and Hillary Clinton wherein Blumenthal quotes an Eichenwald piece concerning Benghazi. Although Moran retracted the post in short order, Eichenwald shouted Moran’s error from the rooftops, citing the mistake as proof of broader Russian intrigue.

In late 2016 when Eichenwald was questioned by FoxNews’ Tucker Carlson on his numerous outbursts targeting President Donald Trump and Trump supporters, Eichenwald told the broadcast journalist he wanted to relay “a message I’ve got from the CIA.”

“I know a lot of officers. I know a lot of agents,” Eichenwald continued, “I’ve been in their homes, and I’m really delivering this to you and Donald Trump. These are people who’ve sacrificed a lot for this country … “ Despite Carlson’s request for Eichenwald to explain the dispatch on air no specific message was ever actually related.

Walter Bragman and Shane Ryan, “Did Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald Use Threats and Bribery to Silence a Young Journalist?” Paste, October 19, 2016; “FoxNews, Tucker Carlson Confronts Newsweek Bias,” FoxNews, December 15, 2016.

Known For Partisan Attacks,
“Deeply wired into the intelligence community”

By James F. Tracy

Yet another harbinger of corporate news media’s continued demise is evident when a familiar mainstream journalist with admitted ties to US intelligence agencies plays covert roles in the issues and events he claims to report objectively on. The case of Kurt Eichenwald suggests how the CIA’s famous Operation Mockingbird is alive and well in the twenty-first century.

On December 16, 2015 FAU administrators terminated this author on pretextual grounds. Less than 24 hours beforehand the same school officials received an inflammatory email from Newsweek‘s Kurt Eichenwald, among the internet’s most avid gun control advocates and anti-Trump crusaders who boasts of being “deeply wired into the intelligence community.”

In the query, one of thousands of emails produced by FAU during discovery, the fiercely partisan Eichenberg more than subtly pressures the FAU administration on Tracy’s public speech concerning the Sandy Hook massacre event, further suggesting that Tracy is mentally ill, guilty of criminal harassment, and may pose a legal liability to the university.

Newsweek Reporter Kurt Eichenwald. Image Credit: YouTube

Eichenwald’s email was received by the university’s chief public affairs officer and immediately forwarded to FAU President John Kelly, General Counsel David Kian, and Provost Gary Perry. Perry forwarded the email to Associate General Counsel Lawrence Glick and Vice Provost Diane Alperin. Less than 24 hours thereafter Alperin informed this author he would be fired.

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