Russia Jr. Continues: Today's News for July 11th

New York Times:

Trump Jr. Was Told in Email of Russian Effort to Aid Campaign

Before arranging a meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. was informed in an email that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email.

The email to the younger Mr. Trump was sent by Rob Goldstone, a publicist and former British tabloid reporter who helped broker the June 2016 meeting. In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he was interested in receiving damaging information about Mrs. Clinton, but gave no indication that he thought the lawyer might have been a Kremlin proxy.

Mr. Goldstone’s message, as described to The New York Times by the three people, indicates that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information. It does not elaborate on the wider effort by Moscow to help the Trump campaign.

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. The meeting took place less than a week before it was widely reported that Russian hackers had infiltrated the committee’s servers.

If the email offered existing information, then it couldn't have been related to alleged Russian efforts to hack into the DNC servers, since that was done later.

Also, lacking specifics as to what the information was, it is impossible to say Trump Jr. was involved in anything illegal.

In other news...

The Algemeiner:

Award-Winning Journalist Who Broke Story of Jewish Women Barred From Chicago ‘Dyke March’ Removed From Reporting Duties

An award-winning journalist who broke the story of the group of Jewish women ejected from an LGBTQ march in Chicago last month has been reassigned to non-journalistic duties at the paper which ran the original report, the Windy City Times.

Gretchen Rachel Hammond — whose June 24 story caused a national storm after she detailed how three women flying Jewish Pride flags embossed with the Star of David were instructed to leave the gathering by organizers from the Dyke March Collective — confirmed to The Algemeiner on Monday that while she was still employed by the paper, she was not presently engaged in its reporting and writing operations.

“At this time, I have not been fired from Windy City Times, but I have been transferred to working full time for the sales department,” Hammond explained in an emailed statement. “The reasoning is an internal matter and I have been instructed not to comment about it even to close friends. Given my present situation, I must comply with this instruction.”

What is disturbing here is not the action taken by the Dyke March, which is curious but is within their rights, but the action taken against the reporter. Note the Dyke March organizers did NOT deny the actions they took, and even admitted to them. So what the reporter wrote was accurate.

No, the disturbing part is the apparent retribution against the reporter for doing her job. Admittedly, this newspaper is a small operation. But if a small newspaper will take actions against reporters for telling the truth, is it possible that large media operations could do the same?

Finally, the fact the Windy City Times is "Chicago's only weekly LGBT newspaper" does not excuse it from having to report the truth. Being LGBT doesn't entitle you to your own facts. Unless Windy City Times isn't a newspaper and is actually a propaganda paper, in which case, go right ahead.