All out full frontal assault on media credibility...

CNN grabbed some headlines by trying to grab some headlines by creating a headline that was more headline than story.

 “US Officials: Info suggests Trump associates may have coordinated with Russians.”

Sounds like some sort of breaking news that would rock the free world!! Very soon every reporter in the country would be echoing the news, Democrats would be rehearsing their impeachment lines, and the Donald would be booking a flight to a remote country with no extradition. 

Only problem is that there was no "there" there. The story is little more than a hoax. Call it fake news, or whatever you want. But at the end of the day, someone was able to determine that with a little semantic tweaking, that you could redefine known information, and create a headline that suggested something different. 

So what specifically does the CNN story state for sure:

The FBI cannot yet prove that collusion took place, but the information suggesting collusion is now a large focus of the investigation, the officials said.

Well that falls a little short of something tangible, huh? This is just another manner to state that people within the Obama administration saw "red flags" regarding the amount of communication between certain Russians and the selected members of the Trump campaign that were either being monitored (as it pertains to the collusion charges) or not being monitored (as it pertains to the Trump allegations that they were being monitored).

So where do you go when the existing evidence doesn't prove any of the witchcraft you are hunting for?

One of the obstacles the sources say the FBI now faces in finding conclusive intelligence is that communications between Trump’s associates and Russians have ceased in recent months given the public focus on Russia’s alleged ties to the Trump campaign.

So there is apparently no old evidence that proves collusion, and there is no more communications that might prove any collusion after the fact. Some may deem this to be an obstacle, others may see it as a sign to move on to investigations where some actual evidence exists.

But wait... this is important!

The Russian operation was also in part focused on the publication of so-called "fake news" stories aimed at undermining Hillary Clinton's campaign.

So just to be clear... when you actually hack into the Clinton and DNC campaign emails, report on the substance of those emails (which nobody denies are real emails) - it's somehow considered "fake news"?

No, that would be called accurate news that also happened to be damaging. Let's be clear here folks. If the FBI is actually conducting a broader investigation into "fake news" that harmed Hillary's Presidential Campaign, Trump needs to have Comey's head on a stick (along with his immediate resignation).

If CNN really wants to uncover some fake news... they could start with this story. After all, the headline is fake and the goal is very specifically to undermine the Trump Presidency. There is a great deal of transparency in that reality.