The dossier published by BuzzFeed was originally intended as “opposition research” against Mr. Trump. What was surprising in this case was that the allegations against Mr. Trump, none of them verified, ended up on a highly popular news website. This was also the case with the Trump dossier, which was an open secret among reporters in Washington. That changed when CNN accurately reported that a classified report summarizing the dossier had been given by intelligence officials to President Obama, Mr. Trump and congressional leaders. Raging against attacks by Mr. Trump and his allies on “the mainstream media” will not suffice.

Source: New York Times January 14, 2017 03:22 UTC