Journalist Matt Taibbi unveiled part 14 of the "Twitter Files" on Thursday, diving into the "Russiagate lies" and how he says a "fake tale of Russian bots" helped Democrats denounced the famous Devin Nunes report about flaws in the Trump-Russia investigation.
Emails and memo show that high-powered Democrats peddled a narrative of Russian bots despite being told directly by Twitter that there wasn't a connection to the tKremlin.
The lengthy Twitter thread began with Taibbi noting that "at a crucial moment in a years-long furor, Democrats denounced a report about flaws in the Trump-Russia investigation, saying it was boosted by Russian ‘bots’ and ‘trolls.’"
He then indicated "Twitter officials were aghast, finding no evidence of Russian influence," and shared an email in which Twitter executives appeared to inform Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that the social media platform "has not identified any significant activity connected to Russia with respect to Tweets posting original content to this [#ReleaseTheMemo] hashtag."
Elon Musk had been vocal about being transparent when it comes to Twitter's past and present actions curating content on the platform, including censored content. The Twitter owner has enlisted independent journalists to slowly release evidence of these actions in a series dubbed the "Twitter Files" that continue to expose once-secret communications.
"Twitter warned politicians and media they not only lacked evidence, but had evidence the accounts weren’t Russian – and were roundly ignored," Taibbi wrote. "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.’"
"The Nunes assertions would virtually all be verified in a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz in December 2019," Taibbi continued. "Nonetheless, national media in January and early February of 2018 denounced the Nunes report in oddly identical language, calling it a ‘joke.’"
Taibbi pointed out that on Jan. 23, 2018, Feinstein and Schiff "published an open letter saying the hashtag ‘gained the immediate attention and assistance of social media accounts linked to Russian influence operations.’"
"Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal followed suit, publishing a letter saying, ‘We find it reprehensible that Russian agents have so eagerly manipulated innocent Americans,’" Taibbi wrote.
"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," Taibbi noted; Watts is an MSNBC contributor. But Twitter officials found no authentic Russian connection to the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag and informed Democrats as such. They also discovered no Kremlin source for other hashtags that mainstream and liberal media outlets blamed on sinister Russian activity.
Asked for comment, Nunes told Taibbi that the "Russia collusion hoax" was one of the "greatest outbreaks of mass delusion in U.S. history."
This is a developing story, more to come…
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
