On Monday evening, Dec. 29, U.S. President Donald Trump responded to an initial attempt by a reporter to question whether Ukraine had targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence. Then he said: “You are saying, maybe the attack didn’t take place—that is possible too, I guess, but President Putin told me this morning it did.” By Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 31, at 1:42 pm, a nasty New York Post opinion piece headlined “Putin ‘Attack’ Bluster Shows Russia Is the One Standing in the Way of Peace” was re-posted on Trump’s Truth Social account.
Early on Dec. 31 in the evening, the Wall Street Journal announced that “U.S. national-security officials” find that Ukraine didn’t target Putin; yet WSJ's explanation only cites one “U.S. official” who had been “briefed on the intelligence” to say that a CIA assessment found that Ukraine was trying “to strike a military target in the same region as Putin’s country residence but not close by.” Then, when WSJ sought confirmation, the CIA declined to comment. Over the last 24 hours, the media stampede has run unabated, with headlines announcing the CIA assessment; yet none provide any better sourcing than the sketchy WSJ version.
