1.THREAD: Twitter Files #14
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
THE RUSSIAGATE LIES
One: The Fake Tale of Russian Bots and the #ReleaseTheMemo Hashtag
3.Twitter officials were aghast, finding no evidence of Russian influence:
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
“We are feeding congressional trolls.”
“Not any…significant activity connected to Russia.”
“Putting the cart before the horse assuming this is propaganda/bots.” pic.twitter.com/r8O21QacME
5.On January 18th, 2018, Republican Devin Nunes submitted a classified memo to the House Intel Committee detailing abuses by the FBI in obtaining FISA surveillance authority against Trump-connected figures, including the crucial role played by the infamous “Steele Dossier”: pic.twitter.com/uhl7TXYsBC
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
7.Nonetheless, national media in January and early February of 2018 denounced the Nunes report in oddly identical language, calling it a “joke”: pic.twitter.com/IkTXRGrfaH
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
9b. Feinstein/Schiff said the Nunes memo "distorts" classified information, but note they didn't call it incorrect. pic.twitter.com/3ZMVM6XH9p
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
11.Feinstein, Schiff, Blumenthal, and media members all pointed to the same source: the Hamilton 68 dashboard created by former FBI counterintelligence official Clint Watts, under the auspices of the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD). pic.twitter.com/sifFJhBTn6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
13.Inside Twitter, executives panned Watts, Hamilton 68, and the Alliance for Securing Democracy. Two key complaints: Hamilton 68 seemed to be everyone’s only source, and no one was checking with Twitter.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
15.“All the swirl is based on Hamilton,” said Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth. pic.twitter.com/xqJxVM3knb
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
17.Roth couldn’t find any Russian connection to #ReleaseTheMemo – at all. “I just reviewed the accounts that posted the first 50 tweets with #releasethememo and… none of them show any signs of affiliation to Russia.” pic.twitter.com/wJJ3rmI3Ks
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
19.A staffer for “DiFi” – Feinstein – agreed it would be “helpful to know” how Hamilton 68 goes by “the process by which they decide an account is Russian.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
But, only AFTER Feinstein published her letter about Russian influence. pic.twitter.com/ysPYDuEtOH
21.Added another: “It might be worth nudging Blumenthal’s staffer that it could be in his boss’ best interest not to go out there because it could come back to make him look silly.” pic.twitter.com/tP6VZF0PPC
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
23.Blumenthal published his letter anyway.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
25.They expressed this explicitly to Blumenthal’s camp, saying “Twitter spent a lot of resources” on this request and the reward from Blumenthal shouldn’t be round after round of requests.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
“We can’t do a user notice each time this happens.” pic.twitter.com/pcixoeYIyH
27.Ultimately senior executives talked about “feeding congressional trolls” and compared their situation to the children’s book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” pic.twitter.com/xk6reot1lf
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
29.The metaphor for the endless Russia requests was so perfect, one exec wrote, “I’m legit embarrassed I didn’t think of that first.” pic.twitter.com/MbI6XrnS18
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
31.Outside counsel from DC-connected firms like Debevoise and Plimpton advised Twitter to use language like, “With respect to particular hashtags, we take seriously any activity that may represent an abuse of our platform.” pic.twitter.com/DW5nO9Syh5
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
33.Russians weren’t just blamed for #ReleaseTheMemo but #SchumerShutdown, #ParklandShooting, even #GunControlNow – to “widen the divide,” according to the New York Times. pic.twitter.com/L7qZWwcyON
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
35.NBC, Politico, AP, Times, Business Insider, and other media outlets who played up the “Russian bots” story – even Rolling Stone – all declined to comment for this story.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
37. Who did comment? Devin Nunes. "Schiff and the Democrats falsely claimed Russians were behind the Release the Memo hashtag, all my investigative work... By spreading the Russia collusion hoax, they instigated one of the greatest outbreaks of mass delusion in U.S. history.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
39.For more, watch @ShellenbergerMD, @BariWeiss, @LHFang, @DavidZweig, @AlexBerenson, and more.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
Read https://t.co/7BmQRqfy4p for more on why “America Needs Truth and Reconciliation on Russiagate.”
Devin Nunes: VINDICATED40.Twitter had no editorial input on this story. Searches were carried out by third parties, so the documents could be limited.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
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