The more we peek behind the curtain to see what elected Democrats were up to in private conversations, the stronger the case for Trump’s claim it was just a witchhunt becomes.
Long before Trump took that oath of office, the fix was already in. The Intelligence Community and DOJ had long since moved ahead with their FOIAs and were making a play to take Trump out. A decision had been made that Russia was the noose they would hang him with. Looking back, there was never a time when Democrats were NOT looking for a way to leverage accusations against Trump (the politician) to destroy him.
From Hillary’s Steele dossier to the Mueller Investigation, multiple attempts at impeachment, the J6 hearings, and now Mar-A-Lago, DJT has weathered a dizzying array of attacks against him. Thus far, he has weathered them all.
Right in the thick of most of these scandals, whipping them up to maximum effect was a certain Adam Schiff. His co-stars in this drama are Da Nang Dick and DiFi, otherwise known as Dick Blumenthal and Dianne Feinstein, respectively.
This episode of the Twitter Files shows how rabidly determined those three elected Democrats were to find some excuse — any excuse — to tie pro-conservative social medial activity with the Dems’ freshly-minted Russian boogeyman.
When Twitter itself explained the data doesn’t even come close to backing their wild claims [this was back in 2018, before team Blue’s takeover of social media was complete] the Dems didn’t let that stop them.
They made their Russian Collusion claims public without a shred of evidence, and went hunting high and low for somebody, somewhere, who could support their claim of Russian collusion.
What will you see in this thread?
References to Devon Nunes, who was working overtime to correct every lie that Schiff spread, eventually exposing the Crossfire Hurricane plot to the President and drafting the (later vindicated) Nunes Memo to correct many lies that had been spread by elected Democrats about the president and Russia.
Efforts to have Twitter officially confirm Russian collusion where it did not exist fell flat… and Democrats were (at this point in history) still viewed with contempt for doing so.
You will see media echochamber dutifully picking up the Schiff-approved talking points critical of the Nunes memo.
You will see phrases like ‘cart before the horse’ and ‘congressional trolls’. You will see a reference to the ‘give a mouse a cookie’ book, referencing that all they wanted was more and more confirmaiton that evil Russia was working alongside Trump.
You will see the word ‘hubris’ directed at Democrats who are still sitting in office, despite having disgraced their positions.
You will see a company that has been the sole source these Democrats use to justify their entire Russian Collusion narrative.
Even Twitter execs were telling them this Russiagate narrative was a flimsy peg to hang an entire policy on… especially when they have to discount mountains of contrary evidence to believe it.
But we all sawy how that played out in the end.
We might be witnessing the origin story for an entire new legal niche of lawyers representing people suing the government officials and politicians for deliberately violating their Constitutional rights.
1.THREAD: Twitter Files #14
THE RUSSIAGATE LIES
One: The Fake Tale of Russian Bots and the #ReleaseTheMemo Hashtag— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
3.Twitter officials were aghast, finding no evidence of Russian influence:
“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— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
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
9.On January 23rd, 2018, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) published an open letter saying the hashtag “gained the immediate attention and assistance of social media accounts linked to Russian influence operations.” pic.twitter.com/kOC3ab6mXS
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
10.Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal followed suit, publishing a letter saying, “We find it reprehensible that Russian agents have so eagerly manipulated innocent Americans.” pic.twitter.com/pwA1MAQ84t
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
12.The dashboard, which featured a crude picture of Vladimir Putin deviously blowing evil red Twitter birds into the atmosphere, was vague in how it reached its conclusions. pic.twitter.com/bSrfMfSVi6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
14.“I encourage you to be skeptical of Hamilton 68’s take on this, which as far as I can tell is the only source for these stories,” said Global Policy Communications Chief (and future WH and NSC spokesperson) Emily Horne.
She added: “It’s a comms play for ASD.” pic.twitter.com/PZRZC51K7f
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
16.“If ASD isn’t going to fact-check with us, we should feel free to correct the record on their work,” said Policy VP Carlos Monje. pic.twitter.com/fwGgTYt7SN
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
18.“We investigated, found that engagement as overwhelmingly organic, and driven by VITs” – Very Important Tweeters, including Wikileaks and congressman Steve King. pic.twitter.com/Q7Z9DrPWOR
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
20.When Twitter spoke to a Blumenthal staffer, they tried to “wave him off” because “we don’t believe these are bots.” pic.twitter.com/0VGdFRkkOi
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
https://t.co/W7riHUVMyn Twitter exec even tried to negotiate, implying an undisclosed future PR concession if Blumenthal would lay off on this:
“It seems like there are other wins we could offer him.” pic.twitter.com/Kdf1EebXcV
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
26.Eventually Twitter staff realize “Blumenthal isn’t looking for real and nuanced solutions” but “just wants to get credit for pushing us further.” pic.twitter.com/GbMvgeLH6g
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
https://t.co/eOqNK7yE15 the story, if you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk, which will lead to a wave of other exhausting requests, at the end of which he’ll want a glass of milk. And one more cookie. pic.twitter.com/ySlFfzGt1y
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
30.Despite universal internal conviction that there were no Russians in the story, Twitter went on to follow a slavish pattern of not challenging Russia claims on the record.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
https://t.co/OlWGsft3ut a result, reporters from the AP to Politico to NBC to Rolling Stone continued to hammer the “Russian bots” theme, despite a total lack of evidence. pic.twitter.com/4oPFHjJ4Rh
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
https://t.co/w6GmX8wQMw #SchumerShutdown and #ReleaseTheMemo, the internal guidance was, “Both hashtags appear to be organically trending.” pic.twitter.com/6z5OMelLtZ
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
36.The staffs of Feinstein, Schiff, and Blumenthal also declined comment.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
38.This #ReleaseTheMemo episode is just one of many in the #TwitterFiles. The Russiagate scandal was built on the craven dishonesty of politicians and reporters, who for years ignored the absence of data to fictional scare headlines.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
40.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
Elon Smoked The Old Twitter Bird
ClashDaily’s Big Dawg has put his own spin on what’s been going down on the ol’ Bird App — the old Twitter is dead and Elon is building a new one.
Check out Doug’s latest piece, ‘Elon Smoked The Old Twitter Bird.’
Use promo code, ‘FIRST20’, for 20% off all prints. We print on luster paper, museum quality canvas, wood, and for all you metal-heads, we print on metal. We use only the finest inks. Custom sizes are available from small to couch-sized wall monsters.
