Cotton: Beware unnamed sources in media reports

JONESBORO — U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton on Friday urged attendees of the largest-ever Northeast Arkansas Political Animals gathering to “not believe” what anonymous sources tell the media, after he was asked whether he’s concerned about reported meetings between President Donald Trump’s campaign staff and Russian officials.

The Republican from Dardanelle was in Jonesboro as part of a string of public events that includes a town-hall-style meeting today in Heber Springs, the type of event that some congressional Republicans have avoided lately. Since Trump’s election, people have packed such gatherings to ask direct questions of elected officials.

Cotton, whose Feb. 26 meeting in Springdale attracted 2,000 attendees, spoke Friday before a soldout, mostly friendly crowd of about 200 people in a hotel ballroom. He spent 20 minutes answering questions about health care, immigration, the U.S. military and the environment. Applause followed each pointed question but was louder after Cotton’s answers.

After a 26-minute speech about U.S. intelligence gathering and spy agencies, the first question Cotton fielded was about whether he was concerned over recent news reports that multiple members of Trump’s campaign team, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, met with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. before Trump took office.

“I know there’s been a lot of media reports about that,” Cotton said. “I will simply say, based on my knowledge, you should not believe allegations in the media based on anonymous sources. That doesn’t mean they’re all false and that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be properly reviewed by the right people.”

Tracey Thompson, a civics teacher at Kipp Blytheville Collegiate High School, attended the luncheon with some of her students. After the speech, Thompson said Cotton’s characterization of anonymous sources was “irresponsible.”

“Anonymous sources have been a part of journalism throughout history,” Thompson said. “Like [someone] pointed out, Watergate was broken because of an anonymous source. You should do research as a responsible citizen and determine the validity of anything that you read and not just necessarily believe everything. But to say in general that anonymous sources have no believability is, I think, an irresponsible statement.”

The Washington Post on Wednesday evening first reported that Sessions twice met with the Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign. Its news story cited unnamed Justice Department officials.

Sessions on Thursday said he had met with the ambassador on two occasions, but he couldn’t recall whether the campaign was discussed. He also said he would recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation into the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia.

Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, resigned after a separate report from The Washington Post that, citing unnamed sources, contradicted Flynn’s statements on what he discussed with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.