A front-page story in the New York Times, January 20, 2017 reported: "American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American officials said."  The story originally carried this headline: "WIRETAPPED DATAUSED IN INQUIRY OF TRUMP AIDES[.]"

A Times article, May 2, on the Face the Nation interview of President Trump indicated that President Trump ended the interview after moderator John Dickerson  pressed the president "on his false claim ... that President Barack Obama had placed a 'tap' on Trump Tower."  The article, by Glenn Thrush and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, went on to report:

Congressional investigators from both parties have said they have uncovered no evidence to support Mr. Trump’s claims. But congressional Republicans and White House officials have said that some communications of Mr. Trump’s associates were picked up as part of routine surveillance conducted by American intelligence agencies.

Why did the New York Times tie a  report of surveillance of Trump "associates" to "congressional Republicans and White House officials" – and not to the front-page story in the Times, January 20?  Is the Times edging toward the kind of practice that occupied Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984 – rewriting the past to keep it current with the propaganda needs of the present?

It was, after all, the Times that informed its readers, last January 20, that "TRUMP AIDES" had been "WIRETAPPED."  This Times story referred to Mr. Trump as "President-elect" (indeed, it appeared the day of President Trump's inauguration); consequently, the surveillance had to have taken place while Barack Obama was president.  Why, then, is it "false" to pin responsibility for the wiretapping, acknowledged by the Times,  on President Obama?  Or are Times readers to conclude that the surveillance was the work of a rogue operation by "American law enforcement and intelligence agencies" intent on rigging the president election for Hillary Clinton?

Russian expert Stephen F. Cohen, on  John Batchelor's radio show, May 2, called for an investigation of the role of U.S. intelligence agencies in the 2016 presidential election.  The American people have been fed more than 100 days of anti-Trump propaganda and disinformation from the monolithic media – including the vilest remarks from Stephen Colbert and bizarre claims of individuals practicing political psychiatry.  It is indeed past time that Congress cleared the thick and foul partisan cloud over the nation and acted on Professor Cohen's suggestion.