>>>Here is one take on it. Those who prefer watching to reading there is video at the bottom as well.
>
>Thank you. I particularly like the point that no official report exists, merely anonymous leaks to Trump's favorite MSM (NY Times and Washington Post) who elevate it to fact. The CIA (or more capably in context, the NSA) needs to validate or torpedo the rumors.

This is typical propaganda stunt. MSM does not care if story is true or not. By the time story is confirmed or debunked, effect has been achieved already.
They do that all the time.

I do like the fact that nowadays very few people trust MSM at all. I saw one poll where it shows that only 25% Americans trust them.
In this respect, (distrust of MSM) US became absolute leader in western world. In comparison, for instance in Finland that percentage is still above 60% .
(forgot NZ score) That is IMO good news, as it will be lot more difficult to maintain/start new wars in the future. In this respect MSM was/is ultimate tool.

Some time ago I joked that one should be able to sue MSM for insults to intelligence ;-)
Joking aside... Perhaps good old libel laws should be brushed up and revamped, so if you publish
banana story which gets debunked as lie, you could be liable for some big bucks. If that was the case, majority of them would go out of business in no time.
As it stands now lying is apparently still legal.