White House 'discrediting' team conducting opposition research on reporters to smear them: report

Count the reputations of journalists as another byproduct of the fallout from Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer to get dirty information on Hillary Clinton.

An evening scoop from the Washington Post revealed, among other stories, that some Republicans close to President Donald Trump's White House are seeking to discredit some of the journalists reporting on Trump Jr.'s Russia meeting in an attempt to move past the story.

"A handful of Republican operatives close to the White House are scrambling to Trump Jr.’s defense and have begun what could be an extensive campaign to try to discredit some of the journalists who have been reporting on the matter," the report noted.

According to an anonymous member of the discrediting "team," such efforts would include digging into the reporters' past work "to exploit any mistakes or perceived biases" and "to demand corrections, trumpet errors on social media and feed them to conservative outlets, such as Fox News."

Posturing against the press is nothing new for Trump's White House -- but one adviser who spoke with the Post said they believe it won't be so simple as to cry "fake news."

"The meeting happened," the source said. "It’s tough to go to war with the facts."