The new batch of “Twitter Files” revealed that congressional Democrats ignored Twitter’s warning about the “Russia bot” claim and instead chose to promote the lies.
The “Russian bot” claim was always a lie.
Twitter knew it. Democrat politicians knew it. But they pushed it anyways.
Enemies of the people. All of them.https://t.co/sXn9KJXS9a
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 12, 2023
During the Trump-Russia investigation, a report came out revealing flaws in the investigation. However, congressional Democrats such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) denounced the report, claiming Russia bots and trolls were pushing them on Twitter.
https://t.co/0PUOm212iv 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.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023
Matt Taibbi, an independent journalist who has been working on the files, revealed that Twitter executives reached out to politicians on the left to let them know there was no evidence to support their Russia bot claim.
“Twitter warned politicians and media the not only lacked evidence but had evidence the accounts weren’t Russian – and were roundly ignored,” Taibbi wrote.
However, the warnings fell on deaf ears, and the politician continued to peddle the lie.
Taibbi added that Twitter, despite its universal internal conviction that there were no Russian bots, followed its “slavish pattern” of not challenging Russian claims on the record. Twitter’s reluctance to go on record with its finding made reporters from AP, Politico, NBC and Rolling Stone stick to the Russian bot claim even at the absence of evidence to back the claim.
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
“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,” Taibbi wrote.
This is not the first time Schiff would be caught peddling lies in connection to the Russian collusion investigation. At the height of the investigation, Schiff told reporters that there was clear evidence that former President Donald Trump and his campaign had colluded with Russian agents to win the 2016 election.
“I can tell you that the case is more than that,” Schiff told Chuck Todd on MSNBC. “And I can’t go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now.”
Schiff’s claim turned out to be false after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated the case, found no collision evidence. Mueller had spent 22 months and nearly $32 million in American taxpayer money investigating the case.
