A reporter who helped spread the unverified and unsubstantiated dossier claiming there was collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia also circulated a photoshopped picture of Trump holding a Russian flag, admitting his mistake but declining to apologize.
David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for the openly left-wing Mother Jones publication, was one of the first reporters to write about ex-British spy Christopher Steele’s dossier, which included a slew of unsubstantiated claims and has been widely discredited since being published in early 2018.
Corn and Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News admitted on March 26 that the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller—which, after nearly two years, was unable to establish collusion between Trump or anyone in his campaign and Russia—undercut the dossier.
“That’s what got people worked up initially, and we do have to acknowledge that that which was alleged has not panned out,” Isikoff said during an appearance on MSNBC. “You know, it was endorsed on multiple, multiple times on this network, people saying it’s more and more proving to be true, and it wasn’t.”
Corn said that major portions of the dossier were “more or less” debunked but continued to defend theory of collusion between Trump and Russia.
The same day he appeared on the network, Corn shared a picture on Twitter that showed President Trump in the White House along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other American and Russian officials.
The picture was taken on May 10, 2017.
Corn shared the picture nearly two years later on March 26, 2019, adding in a caption: “Imagine looking so happy with representatives of the regime that attacked your nation and a regime you aided and abetted by denying the attack was underway. All smiles.”
Imagine looking so happy with representatives of the regime that attacked your nation and a regime you aided and abetted by denying the attack was underway. All smiles. pic.twitter.com/eSJakmX9PM
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 27, 2019
It wasn’t clear where Corn obtained the photo, but it was clearly photoshopped.
Several elements were added in, including a small Russian flag that Trump appeared to be holding in his left hand.
There was also a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin photoshopped onto the wall, in place of a portrait of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
A third element was also added: in the picture Corn shared, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway can be seen taking a picture with a smartphone of Trump and Lavrov.
But in the real picture, no one is there—Conway had been photoshopped in.
Corn shared the picture at 7:46 p.m. EDT, according to a timestamp of his Twitter post.
Just so everyone knows: this was a photoshopped pic that added a few features, such as Trump holding the Russian flag and the portrait of Putin. But the smiles are real. https://t.co/4B8I3aDZir
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 27, 2019
This was the original shop. Trump looking so happy with representatives of the foreign adversary that attacked America. Yesterday’s post RTed a clever photoshopped version. But you don’t need to photoshop this pic to tell the story. https://t.co/CAIImjOMN5
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 27, 2019
Nearly 12 hours later, 7:08 a.m. on March 27, Corn posted an update to 715,000 followers.
“Just so everyone knows: this was a photoshopped pic that added a few features, such as Trump holding the Russian flag and the portrait of Putin,” he wrote. “But the smiles are real.”
This is not the first time this month Corn has drawn questions about the validity of his his tweets.
On March 5, Corn wrote on Twitter that he’d seen some “obscene anti-@AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] graffiti” in a Pheonix, Arizona, airport. However, he didn’t provide any evidence for the claim.
I just spotted obscene anti-@AOC graffiti in a bathroom stall in the Phoenix airport. Yes, really. (Not going to post a photo of it.)
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 5, 2019
The tweet drew many responses, most of which expressed heavy skepticism or derision.
I just spotted obscene anti-@DavidCornDC graffiti in a bathroom stall in the Phoenix airport. Yes, really. (Not going to post a photo of it.)
— @dj_beav is learning to code ???? (@dj_beav) March 5, 2019
