Someone Sent Rachel Maddow Fake NSA Documents Alleging Trump-Russia Collusion

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow gave a “heads up” to other news organizations on Thursday after she was sent what she believes are faked National Security Agency documents alleging collusion between a member of the Trump campaign and Russian government.

“Somebody, for some reason, appears to be shopping a fairly convincing fake NSA document that purports to directly implicate somebody from the Trump campaign in working with the Russians in their attack in the election,” Maddow said in a lengthy segment on her show.

She suggested that the unidentified muckraker who sent her the fake documents hopes to undermine news organizations in general and deflate the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, which has been going on for nearly a year.

“This is news, because: why is someone shopping a forged document of this kind to news organizations covering the Trump-Russia affair?” Maddow asked.

On June 7, an unidentified person sent documents to an online tip line for Maddow’s show, she said.

That was two days after The Intercept published legitimate NSA documents that were stolen by Reality Winner, a contractor for the agency.

Maddow said that the documents sent to her show appeared to have used The Intercept’s published documents as a template. Secret ID markings on The Intercept reports appeared on the documents passed to Maddow.

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