Late last week, journalist Matt Taibbi dropped Part 6 of “The Twitter Files.” This round was focused on the uncomfortably close relationship between Twitter and the FBI.
COMING at 4 est:
TWITTER: THE FBI SUBSIDIARY pic.twitter.com/jQFh72jHec
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 16, 2022
It was eye-opening in the most infuriating way. But as extensive as Taibbi’s thread was, you knew that there just had to be more where all that came from.
Well, there was. And today, we got it from Michael Shellenberger.
Here we go… https://t.co/obLkgOBxFY
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 19, 2022
Buckle up, everybody. You’re in for another wild ride.
1. TWITTER FILES: PART 7
The FBI & the Hunter Biden Laptop
How the FBI & intelligence community discredited factual information about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings both after and *before* The New York Post revealed the contents of his laptop on October 14, 2020
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
In Twitter Files #6, we saw the FBI relentlessly seek to exercise influence over Twitter, including over its content, its users, and its data. https://t.co/g66XzH9ISr
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
In Twitter Files #7, we present evidence pointing to an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community (IC), aimed at senior executives at news and social media companies, to discredit leaked information about Hunter Biden before and after it was published.
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
The story begins in December 2019 when a Delaware computer store owner named John Paul (J.P.) Mac Isaac contacts the FBI about a laptop that Hunter Biden had left with him
On Dec 9, 2019, the FBI issues a subpoena for, and takes, Hunter Biden's laptop. https://t.co/TdaYhHMVRH pic.twitter.com/JxdkrkgAkI
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
By Aug 2020, Mac Isaac still had not heard back from the FBI, even though he had discovered evidence of criminal activity. And so he emails Rudy Giuliani, who was under FBI surveillance at the time. In early Oct, Giuliani gives it to @nypost https://t.co/TdaYhHMVRH
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Shortly before 7 pm ET on October 13, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, emails JP Mac Isaac.
Hunter and Mesires had just learned from the New York Post that its story about the laptop would be published the next day. pic.twitter.com/59RV5h8ZsM
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
7. At 9:22 pm ET (6:22 PT), FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan sends 10 documents to Twitter’s then-Head of Site Integrity, Yoel Roth, through Teleporter, a one-way communications channel from the FBI to Twitter. pic.twitter.com/7j59zfBuJQ
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
8. The next day, October 14, 2020, The New York Post runs its explosive story revealing the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Every single fact in it was accurate. pic.twitter.com/TC2AnLNJAw
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
9. And yet, within hours, Twitter and other social media companies censor the NY Post article, preventing it from spreading and, more importantly, undermining its credibility in the minds of many Americans.
Why is that? What, exactly, happened?
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
10. On Dec 2, @mtaibbi described the debate inside Twitter over its decision to censor a wholly accurate article.
Since then, we have discovered new info that points to an organized effort by the intel community to influence Twitter & other platforms https://t.co/1ZF3oottKR
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
11. First, it's important to understand that Hunter Biden earned *tens of millions* of dollars in contracts with foreign businesses, including ones linked to China's government, for which Hunter offered no real work.
Here's an overview by investigative journalist @peterschweizer pic.twitter.com/8EGQSpDl06— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
12. And yet, during all of 2020, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly primed Yoel Roth to dismiss reports of Hunter Biden’s laptop as a Russian “hack and leak” operation.
This is from a sworn declaration by Roth given in December 2020.https://t.co/IvTjyYw9iR pic.twitter.com/5iq2ATB3bW
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
About as smoking as a gun can be:
Intelligence Community was running interference for Joe and Hunter Biden during the 2020 election https://t.co/UgDbvmDU5H
— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) December 19, 2022
This gun isn’t just smoking; it’s on fire.
13. They did the same to Facebook, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “The FBI basically came to us [and] was like, ‘Hey… you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in 2016 election. There's about to be some kind of dump similar to that.'" pic.twitter.com/yPGP8nYgCq
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
14. Were the FBI warnings of a Russian hack-and-leak operation relating to Hunter Biden based on *any* new intel?
No, they weren't
“Through our investigations, we did not see any similar competing intrusions to what had happened in 2016,” admitted FBI agent Elvis Chan in Nov. pic.twitter.com/tFPMqbydbA
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Oh.
So the FBI created a “Russia disinfo” narrative to encourage Big Tech to censor legitimate stories ahead of the election?? Wow. https://t.co/133SZw0dPm
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) December 19, 2022
That’s sure what it sounds like.
15. Indeed, Twitter executives *repeatedly* reported very little Russian activity.
E.g., on Sept 24, 2020, Twitter told FBI it had removed 345 “largely inactive” accounts “linked to previous coordinated Russian hacking attempts.” They “had little reach & low follower accounts." pic.twitter.com/hy7hPahChS
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
16. In fact, Twitter debunked false claims by journalists of foreign influence on its platform
"We haven’t seen any evidence to support that claim” by @oneunderscore__ @NBC News of foreign-controlled bots.
“Our review thus far shows a small-scale domestic troll effort…” pic.twitter.com/fWYNv7mMea
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
So Twitter admitted that they didn’t have any evidence of Russian disinformation.
17. After FBI asks about a WaPo story on alleged foreign influence in a pro-Trump tweet, Twitter's Roth says, "The article makes a lot of insinuations… but we saw no evidence that that was the case here (and in fact, a lot of strong evidence pointing in the other direction).” pic.twitter.com/jJjnczZnA5
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
18. It's not the first time that Twitter's Roth has pushed back against the FBI. In January 2020, Roth resisted FBI efforts to get Twitter to share data outside of the normal search warrant process. pic.twitter.com/NAssnLMpds
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
If Roth had stood his ground he could've been a free speech hero. https://t.co/dG8gVWqo4V
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 19, 2022
Well, he didn’t. And we all know how that turned out.
19. Pressure had been growing:
“We have seen a sustained (If uncoordinated) effort by the IC [intelligence community] to push us to share more info & change our API policies. They are probing & pushing everywhere they can (including by whispering to congressional staff).” pic.twitter.com/HWeaYdvNqo
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
This sounds like a huge problem.
20. Time and again, FBI asks Twitter for evidence of foreign influence & Twitter responds that they aren’t finding anything worth reporting.
“[W]e haven’t yet identified activity that we’d typically refer to you (or even flag as interesting in the foreign influence context).” pic.twitter.com/ghGNz4ZzXB
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
“Try harder!” said the FBI. “Make it up if you have to!”
Thankfully the @FBI didn’t let a lack of evidence stop them from spreading their “Russian disinformation” disinformation anyway. https://t.co/Ro6nM404Ww
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 19, 2022
You’d think that the FBI would be relieved to learn that there was no foreign influence at play here. In theory, that would make their jobs a lot easier. Instead, they seemed disappointed.
21. Despite Twitter’s pushback, the FBI repeatedly requests information from Twitter that Twitter has already made clear it will not share outside of normal legal channels. pic.twitter.com/WyI03iZ0WF
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
22. Then, in July 2020, the FBI’s Elvis Chan arranges for temporary Top Secret security clearances for Twitter executives so that the FBI can share information about threats to the upcoming elections. pic.twitter.com/YXCR2Guxz5
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Top Secret security clearances for Twitter execs? This is fine.
23. On August 11, 2020, the FBI's Chan shares information with Twitter's Roth relating to the Russian hacking organization, APT28, through the FBI's secure, one-way communications channel, Teleporter. pic.twitter.com/HHLpCqcOoy
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
24. Recently, Yoel Roth told @karaswisher that he had been primed to think about the Russian hacking group APT28 before news of the Hunter Biden laptop came out.
When it did, Roth said, "It set off every single one of my finely tuned APT28 hack-and-leap campaign alarm bells." pic.twitter.com/RKoR4NtH1s
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
25. In Aug, 2020, FBI’s Chan asks Twitter: does anyone there have top secret clearance?
When someone mentions Jim Baker, Chan responds, "I don't know how I forgot him" — an odd claim, given Chan's job is to monitor Twitter, not to mention that they worked together at the FBI. pic.twitter.com/VlyLcxhQVl
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
26. Who is Jim Baker? He's former general counsel of the FBI (2014-18) & one of the most powerful men in the U.S. intel community.
Baker has moved in and out of government for 30 years, serving stints at CNN, Bridgewater (a $140 billion asset management firm) and Brookings pic.twitter.com/FggRI2zITX
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
27. As general counsel of the FBI, Baker played a central role in making the case internally for an investigation of Donald Trump https://t.co/TMIMTpUjDw
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
28. Baker wasn't the only senior FBI exec. involved in the Trump investigation to go to Twitter.
Dawn Burton, the former dep. chief of staff to FBI head James Comey, who initiated the investigation of Trump, joined Twitter in 2019 as director of strategy.
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
29. As of 2020, there were so many former FBI employees — "Bu alumni" — working at Twitter that they had created their own private Slack channel and a crib sheet to onboard new FBI arrivals. pic.twitter.com/prVhPGohOC
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Pardon our French, but what in the ever-loving f**k???
30. Efforts continued to influence Twitter's Yoel Roth.
In Sept 2020, Roth participated in an Aspen Institute “tabletop exercise” on a potential "Hack-and-Dump" operation relating to Hunter Biden
The goal was to shape how the media covered it — and how social media carried it pic.twitter.com/lQSorONUSh
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
31. The organizer was Vivian Schiller, the fmr CEO of NPR, fmr head of news at Twitter; fmr Gen. mgr of NY Times; fmr Chief Digital Officer of NBC News
Attendees included Meta/FB's head of security policy and the top nat. sec. reporters for @nytimes @wapo and others pic.twitter.com/3yO5ZIc2Jy
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Oh. Fancy that.
32. By mid-Sept, 2020, Chan & Roth had set up an encrypted messaging network so employees from FBI & Twitter could communicate.
They also agree to create a “virtual war room” for “all the [Internet] industry plus FBI and ODNI” [Office of the Director of National Intelligence]. pic.twitter.com/Dhy8LotZHU
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Good Lord. The Left was screeching and hand-wringing nonstop about fake collusion between Trump and Russia while actual collusion between Twitter and the FBI was taking place.
33. Then, on Sept 15, 2020 the FBI’s Laura Dehmlow, who heads up the Foreign Influence Task Force, and Elvis Chan, request to give a classified briefing for Jim Baker, without any other Twitter staff, such as Yoel Roth, present. pic.twitter.com/1uhJ39OYSS
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
34. On Oct 14, shortly after @NYPost publishes its Hunter Biden laptop story, Roth says, “it isn’t clearly violative of our Hacked Materials Policy, nor is it clearly in violation of anything else," but adds, “this feels a lot like a somewhat subtle leak operation.” pic.twitter.com/xMnEWzgxdU
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
35. In response to Roth, Baker repeatedly insists that the Hunter Biden materials were either faked, hacked, or both, and a violation of Twitter policy. Baker does so over email, and in a Google doc, on October 14 and 15. pic.twitter.com/MpQTUj6Esl
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
In case you missed it, James Baker is not a good person.
Baker, a former DOJ OPERATIVE, makes this claim without any evidence presented, either at that time or ever since. https://t.co/YAguCKVItA
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 19, 2022
Inexcusable. https://t.co/VndQEpWQuA
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 19, 2022
“Inexcusable” seems like par for the course with Twitter and the intelligence community at this point.
36. And yet it's inconceivable Baker believed the Hunter Biden emails were either fake or hacked. The @nypost had included a picture of the receipt signed by Hunter Biden, and an FBI subpoena showed that the agency had taken possession of the laptop in December 2019. pic.twitter.com/hwr2zBouly
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Outrageous.
The FBI and its allies told Twitter to crack down on the Hunter Biden laptop stories as faked and/or hacked materials…even though they themselves had the evidence (and laptop!) to prove it was real! https://t.co/WlrqiFzrju
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 19, 2022
We were lied to. Repeatedly. Over and over again.
37. As for the FBI, it likely would have taken a few *hours* for it to confirm that the laptop had belonged to Hunter Biden. Indeed, it only took a few days for journalist @peterschweizer to prove it. pic.twitter.com/eD8uk9lefn
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
38. By 10 am, Twitter execs had bought into a wild hack-and-dump story
“The suggestion from experts – which rings true – is there was a hack that happened separately, and they loaded the hacked materials on the laptop that magically appeared at a repair shop in Delaware” pic.twitter.com/n2Xj9mP1Hs
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
39. At 3:38 pm that same day, October 14, Baker arranges a phone conversation with Matthew J. Perry in the Office of the General Counsel of the FBI pic.twitter.com/26ub4A4uKd
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
40. The influence operation persuaded Twitter execs that the Hunter Biden laptop did *not* come from a whistleblower.
One linked to a Hill article, based on a WaPo article, from Oct 15, which falsely suggested that Giuliani’s leak of the laptop had something to do with Russia. pic.twitter.com/VdrQhf2YMB
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
41. There is evidence that FBI agents have warned elected officials of foreign influence with the primary goal of leaking the information to the news media. This is a political dirty trick used to create the perception of impropriety.
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
42. In 2020, the FBI gave a briefing to Senator Grassley and Johnson, claiming evidence of “Russian interference” into their investigation of Hunter Biden.
The briefing angered the Senators, who say it was done to discredit their investigation.https://t.co/5QsJKMPhpM
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
43. “The unnecessary FBI briefing provided the Democrats and liberal media the vehicle to spread their false narrative that our work advanced Russian disinformation.” pic.twitter.com/TuUCLNL3Qk
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
On top of that, they undermined the Senate investigators…who were actually trying to…you know…INVESTIGATE.https://t.co/IDKS1oDDGY
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 19, 2022
44. Notably, then-FBI General Counsel Jim Baker was investigated *twice,* in 2017 and 2019, for leaking information to the news media.
“You’re saying he’s under criminal investigation? That’s why you’re not letting him answer?” Meadows asked.
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
45. In the end, the FBI's influence campaign aimed at executives at news media, Twitter, & other social media companies worked: they censored & discredited the Hunter Biden laptop story.
By Dec. 2020, Baker and his colleagues even sent a note of thanks to the FBI for its work. pic.twitter.com/ZEASt2aXXm
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
46. The FBI’s influence campaign may have been helped by the fact that it was paying Twitter millions of dollars for its staff time.
“I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!” reports an associate of Jim Baker in early 2021. pic.twitter.com/SmNse97QxK
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Isn’t that special?
47. And the pressure from the FBI on social media platforms continues
In Aug 2022, Twitter execs prepared for a meeting with the FBI, whose goal was “to convince us to produce on more FBI EDRs"
EDRs are an “emergency disclosure request,” a warrantless search. pic.twitter.com/sENBIi6zPg
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
In response to the Twitter Files revelation of high-level FBI agents at Twitter, @Jim_Jordan said, “I have concerns about whether the government was running a misinformation operation on We the People.”https://t.co/nlbBPTeDg8
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Sounds like Jim Jordan’s concerns may have been warranted, huh?
Anyone who reads the Twitter Files, regardless of their political orientation, should share those concerns.
/END
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
Absolutely.
One thing to keep in mind as you read this — the FBI took possession of the laptop nearly a year before the NY Post reported on it.
They knew it was real, and they were circulating disinformation anyway. https://t.co/TyitBhzUiz
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) December 19, 2022
Looks like it’s time to burn down the FBI and start all over again.
***
Previously:
Bari Weiss drops Twitter Files Part Two
And here … we … GO! Matt Taibbi drops SCATHING thread detailing how Twitter ‘removed’ Trump
Part Four of the #TwitterFiles has dropped, detailing the removal of Donald Trump
Bari Weiss drops #TwitterFiles Part 5, exposing depths of Twitter’s crusade against Donald Trump
New #TwitterFiles thread (from Matt Taibbi) drops: ‘TWITTER: THE FBI SUBSIDIARY’
Just when we think the FBI can’t look ANY worse, Matt Taibbi drops #TwitterFiles Supplemental
***
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