Editor’s Note: Anthony Scaramucci is the founder of SkyBridge Capital and was a member of the Trump transition team. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his.

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Anthony Scaramucci: Comey's testimony highlighted false reporting from the New York Times about the Trump campaign and Russia

It's time that the left-leaning media stop trying to sell the collusion narrative, he writes

CNN  — 

In the lead-up to James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the mainstream media hyped the event as the “blockbuster” television event of the summer, promising fireworks and ground-shaking revelations.

But once the hearing started, the left’s narrative quickly evaporated.

Instead, the American people witnessed a thorough debunking of the mainstream media’s false reporting and the Democrats’ anti-Trump hysteria.

Anthony Scaramucci headshot

Their story crumbled as Comey repeatedly confirmed key facts highlighted by President Donald Trump in recent weeks.

Specifically, Comey clearly stated that President Trump was at no point the subject of any FBI investigation. The former FBI Director also made clear that the President never asked for the Russia investigation to be dropped.

These points were so clear that even ultra-liberal MSNBC host Chis Matthews admitted that the Trump-Russia “collusion” narrative “came apart” with Comey’s testimony.

The former FBI director put it simply: “There have been many, many stories based on — well, lots of stuff, but about Russia that are dead wrong.” In an effort to pad their fact-free reporting, the mainstream media has become heavily reliant on anonymous sources, and it speaks volumes that it took a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with the former FBI director to bring the truth to light.

In fact, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, sought further clarification by pointedly asking about a much-discussed New York Times’ story from February titled “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence.” Comey did not mince words by responding that the Times’ story “was not true” and saying yes when Cotton asked if the article was “almost entirely wrong.” Comey also used Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch’s question on the Times’ false reporting as an opportunity to expand on “the challenge” with media reports using classified information and anonymous sourcing. He put it simply: “The people talking about it often don’t really know what’s going on.”

He went on to explain department policy that “those of us who actually know what’s going on are not talking about it. And we don’t call the press to say, ‘Hey, you got that thing wrong about this sensitive topic.’ We just have to leave it there.” This just further underscores the problems this administration has been pointing to all along with using unidentified sources and rumors.

Another line of questioning, this time from Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida on leaks to the press highlighted the agenda of the mainstream media to use leaks to harm the President, but also forced Comey to admit that he himself had leaked damaging information about the President.

Rubio astutely observed “the only thing that’s never been leaked is the fact that the President was not personally under investigation.” Why? Because that didn’t fit the left’s Trump-Russia narrative.

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    While Comey’s testimony revealed no new information regarding President Trump, we did learn a great deal about his concerns regarding the previous administratin — specifically the apparent obstruction arising from former Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the FBI’s Hillary Clinton email investigation. It’s clear that the Obama administration has serious new questions to answer based on Comey’s testimony.

    The Comey hearing ended up being a bust for those Democrats peddling conspiracy theories about Trump and Russia, and even more embarrassing for the media outlets fueling that hysteria with inaccurate reporting. It’s past time for this witch hunt to end, and hopefully Comey’s testimony helped hasten its demise.