Tipsheet

Reps. Schiff, Lieu Once More Look Like Fools After Latest Edition of Twitter Files

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 14, 2023 6:00 AM

The later part of this week brought even more Twitter Files thanks to Matt Taibbi, who has also released several batches before. On Thursday came the fourteenth edition, known as "THE RUSSIAGATE FILES," which currently serves as a pinned tweet on Taibbi's profile. 

The tweets are included as Taibbi sent them out, with some of the numbering being off.

It's not that we want to suggest Twitter is the good guy in this case. Rather the Democrats who pushed the Russia collusion narrative are shown even more so to be the bad guys, considering the social media platform tried to warn that the narrative "not only lacked evidence" but that they "had evidence the accounts weren't Russian," only to be "roundly ignored."

We're given some names early enough on of those who sought to really discredit the points made by then Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) in his memo, which included mention of the Steele Dossier. This includes not only Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), but Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), whose name indeed keeps reappearing in all of this. They sought to discredit Nunes even though, as Taibbi goes on to point out, "they didn't call it incorrect."

Taibbi then mentions how Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), along with the fellow Democrats and, naturally, the mainstream media, fed the narrative about Russian manipulation, so as to get their fellow Americans on board. 

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In subsequent tweets, Taibbi goes on to explain how the source used by these members comes from the Hamilton 68 dashboard by former FBI counterintelligence officer Clint Watts, with help from the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD).

In another display of how Twitter tried to pump the breaks, Taibbi notes that the social media platform's "executives panned Watts."

Twitter's own investigations found no Russian connection to #ReleaseTheMemo, and that "the engagement are overwhelmingly organic" and came from noteworthy and legitimate accounts. 

The subsequent series of tweets, as one can read above, focus heavily on Sen. Blumenthal, and how utterly relentless he was in pushing such a narrative. Twitter even appeared to offer concessions, with an executive writing in an email from January 23, 2018 that "it seems like there are other wins we could offer him." Nevertheless, the senator published a letter on Russian influence. 

Twitter ultimately realized that the senator "just wants to get credit for pushing us further," as was acknowledged in an email also from January 23, 2018. Such a conclusion is hardly shocking, given that Blumenthal is a politician with an agenda to push, after all. 

Ultimately, Twitter caved, and went on to not challenge or question. Previous batches of the Twitter Files show this to be quite the common theme from the social media platform. 

Taibi continued to tweet tidbits throughout Thursday, mostly to do with how damning this edition looked to be for Democratic members of Congress, including and especially Rep. Schiff. As highlighted before, previous editions of the Twitter Files also look to be bad for the particular congressman, with journalist Paul Sperry, whom Schiff called on Twitter to suspend, considering legal action. 

Friday even brought us a supplemental to hone in further on Schiff, though. This one was fittingly titled "More Adam Schiff Ban Requests, and 'Deamplification.'" The supplemental was featured in the Friday edition of RealClearPolitics. 

The thread begins in a hardly shocking manner, which is that the staff for Rep. Schiff's office routinely asked Twitter to take down tweets, including those that parodied now President Joe Biden during the presidential campaign. 

Again, where Twitter may deserve some credit is that they didn't take down the tweet in question, though a Schiff staffer by the name of Jeff Lowenstein, who, according to Legistorm is the staff director for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, claimed it could be a "slippery slope."

We can't afford to get too excited or heap too much praise upon Twitter, though, as the social media platform would engage in "deamplification" of accounts, especially if there was "QAnon related activity" involved or discussion of the Ukraine whistleblower or Steele dossier. 

The attention on Friday ultimately did not end up being all about Schiff, though. Another California Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) just had to get in on the action as well, as he continuously threw Taibbi under the bus in a series of tweets and personal attacks.

Of course, it's worth reminding that this is nothing new from Lieu. He similarly went after Taibbi last month as he attacked the independent journalist for revealing what the congressman didn't think other people should get to hear. "Ted Lieu" was trending over Twitter on Friday night as a result of the back and forth between him and Taibbi.