The idea is floated frequently that the still nameless Russian collusion scandal is “worse than Watergate.” It may well be, but that comparison overlooks a more useful parallel.
The gold standard of government conspiracy remains the investigation into the July 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off the south coast of Long Island. The ensuing cover-up involved many of the same players as in the Russia conspiracy and for the same immediate goal: to secure a presidential election for a Clinton.
As with the Russia scandal, not all the collaborators in the TWA 800 case were equally motivated or equally powerful. The White House drove the conspiracy through its Justice Department. The CIA executed it without conscience. The FBI grudgingly yielded to the CIA. And the New York Times dutifully reported what the FBI whispered in its reporters’ ears.
As to the National Safety Board, the only agency with statutory authority to investigate a domestic plane crash, the DOJ shoved it aside on day one. The U.S. Navy brass, whose “combatants” were responsible for the accidental shoot-down of the 747, kept their heads down and their lips impressively sealed. They had nothing to gain by rocking this boat.
In the TWA 800 case, as likely in the Russian case, the collaborators never conspired as a group, and very few among them knew the whole picture. The White House dealt with the Navy, but the Navy had as little as possible to do with the FBI or the CIA. The White House controlled the CIA, but the CIA did not deal with the NTSB and only rarely with the FBI. The New York Times never spoke to the CIA or the Navy.
TWA 800: The Crash, th...
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The FBI talked almost exclusively to the Times. Reporters treasure such close connections with a source. The knowledge gleaned from these sources elevates the status of their newspapers and, more to the point, burnishes the star of the reporter within the newspaper.
If reporters have an inside source that talks only to them, they will often shape the news to avoid alienating that source. In fact, it is the rare reporter who can resist manipulation by a key source, especially if the source is telling a story that suits the politics of the newsroom.
This pattern of seduction and manipulation seems to have shaped the reporting in the Russia investigation as well. How else to explain a Times headline as implausible and borderline comic as “F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims”?
In my own conversations with at least two of the Times reporters involved in the TWA 800 case, one in person, I was impressed by how little they knew about critical elements of the case, including the CIA participation.
