Rep. Meadows Says NYT Bolton Leak Was 'Coordinated' in Order to 'Change the Narrative'

When linking to the story about the alleged Bolton “bombshell” book leak in my Monday Morning Briefing, I added this comment: “The timing is suspicious and I can smell the bull manure from here.” It would seem that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) agrees.

Meadows is one of the president’s staunchest allies in Congress, and on Monday he took a few shots at the suspicious timing of all of this, both on social media and directly to the press. Meadows rallied the Trump faithful with this exhortation: “Don’t buy the spin. Don’t buy the misinformed leaks. Don’t buy the predetermined narrative.”

Don’t buy the spin. Don’t buy the misinformed leaks. Don’t buy the predetermined narrative.

The facts will exonerate @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/CFS9c8WVRs

— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 27, 2020

Later, during a press conference after the trial proceedings in the Senate had wrapped for the day, Meadows said, “This leak was designed for one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to try to manipulate the thinking of my Republican colleagues in the Senate to encourage them to open it up and provide for more witnesses….” and then went on to talk about the recent history of Democrats leaking to the press. Meadows added, “My hypothesis is that this is part of a coordinated leak in order to change the narrative.”

Here’s the video (the tweet is incorrect, Meadows is quite clear about not having direct knowledge about this particular leak, referring to it as a “hypothesis” of his).

#BREAKING!

Oh boy. @RepMarkMeadows says he has evidence that House Democrats coordinated the Bolton leak to get him to testify! pic.twitter.com/oOIQz2GXGJ

— MICHAEL SHERIDAN (@TWlTTERMlKE) January 27, 2020

Earlier in the day Bolton and his publishers issued a “Nothing to see here…move along, move along…” statement:

NEW: John Bolton and publishers issue statement denying "coordination with the New York Times or anyone else" following bombshell report about draft manuscript. https://t.co/WEqpLnWLJK pic.twitter.com/Hk5dNVJpvl

— ABC News (@ABC) January 27, 2020

If you remain at all skeptical about this being a coordinated effort, run back through the various mainstream media mentions of the book and see how many of them use the word “bombshell” as if it were a mantra given to them by their gurus.

This is — and I’m spit-balling here — about the 1,478,296th “bombshell” that is supposed to completely unravel Trump’s presidency.

I like his track record so far.

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PJ Media Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.”