American journalist Seymour Hersh on Wednesday accused the U.S. government of feeding the media "false stories" to cover up an operation that resulted in the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September, for which he said the Biden administration was responsible in a sweeping report published last month.

The Pulitzer Prize winner made the remarks in a blog post after the New York Times and the German weekly Die Zeit reported that new intelligence reviewed by the U.S. and German governments suggested a pro-Ukraine group might be behind the Nord Stream blasts, running counter to Hersh's claim.

Hersh said his account, which is based on anonymous sourcing and directly points the finger at U.S. President Joe Biden, "gained traction in Germany and Western Europe, but was subject to a near media blackout in the U.S."

It was then countered by "false cover stories" released by the U.S. and German intelligence agencies after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a visit to Washington two weeks ago, Hersh wrote.

In his post, he questioned the absence of White House reporters asking whether Biden had ordered a thorough investigation into the Nord Stream incident. 

The president has not done so "because he knows the answer," Hersh said, citing an unnamed source within the intelligence community.

The reporter also raised a series of questions surrounding Scholz's Washington visit, noting that the chancellor flew to the U.S. with no German reporters on board, that a CNN interview with him did not touch on the pipeline allegations and that an 80-minute meeting between Biden and Scholz was held with no aides present for much of the time.

(Cover: A view of the White House, Washington, D.C., U.S., March 17, 2023. /CFP)