Putin’s statement about the quality of Russian ladies of the night was made in public, in a media statement, and broadcast around the world. I don’t think Trump had ever spoken to Putin before Trump was elected.
And yet it was one of two points the local “news” went with.
As I noted earlier, it seems that the Democrats spent more on the dossier, never mind this weasel hole of an “investigation”, than the Russians spent trying to influence the election in the first place.
In fact, I bet the actual illegal collusion between Hillary, the DNC and PACs spent many times more than the Russians.