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Wheeler also claimed that Butowsky kept White House officials appraised of their progress on the story and showed it to Trump before it was published. “Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article,” Butowsky said in a May 14 text message to Wheeler, according to the lawsuit. “He wants the article out immediately. It’s now all up to you, but don’t feel the pressure."

The story was published May 16, inflaming conspiracy theorists and Hillary Clinton foes. It also inflamed Wheeler, who claims the shocking conclusion in the story hinged on quotes about Rich and WikiLeaks that were attributed to him, but which he never said. Wheeler said that when he confronted Fox about his concerns, he was told by Butowsky that "the quotes were included because that is the way the President wanted the article," according to the suit.

Fox News retracted the story a week later, saying it didn’t live up to its reporting standards.

According to the complaint, there are audio recordings backing up many of the claims, as well as text messages and emails.

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33901774)

The White House and Fox’s motivation to push the false story was to “lift the cloud” of the Russia investigation, Wheeler claims in the lawsuit. (Trump fired FBI Director James Comey a week before the article was published.) “One of the big conclusions we need to draw from this is that the Russians did not hack our computer systems and ste[a]l emails and there was no collusion like [T]rump with the Russians,” Butowsky allegedly wrote in emails to Fox News producers and anchors promoting the piece.

Wheeler’s lawsuit includes screenshots of text messages with Butowsky, including an exchange two days before the article was published in which Butowsky wrote: “president [Trump] just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It’s now all up to you. But don’t feel the pressure.”

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33901808)

Reply Favorite

Date: August 1st, 2017 11:31 AM

Author: BuckAssholePaulette

lol, why do Dems want to publicize this story even more?

(Why Did FOX Collude With Trump to Peddle Fake News Story ( Link)?)

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33901838)

Wheeler’s lawsuit includes screenshots of text messages with Butowsky, including an exchange two days before the article was published in which Butowsky wrote: “president [Trump] just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It’s now all up to you. But don’t feel the pressure.”

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33901896)

“We’re going to litigate this case as we would any other,” attorney Douglas Wigdor, who is acting on behalf of private investigator Rod Wheeler, told Yahoo News. “We’ll want to depose anyone who has information,” he added. Wigdor said this would include the president and Spicer.

Trump and Spicer are among the half-dozen key witnesses Wigdor said he would seek to depose. The suit alleges Zimmerman and Butowsky met with Spicer in his White House office in April to discuss the story. It also claims the president specifically reviewed drafts of the story and made changes to it.

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33903892)

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33901929)

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Fox's president of news, Jay Wallace, told NPR on Monday that there was no "concrete evidence" that Wheeler was misquoted by the reporter, Malia Zimmerman. The news executive did not address a question about the story's allegedly partisan origins. Fox News declined to allow Zimmerman to comment for this story.

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3690675&forum_id=2#33902109)