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Twitter: The FBI Subsidiary, and the Lincoln Project’s Back Channel
There are some interesting and disturbing details in this latest batch of Twitter files. (Thanks to @dontillman for posting the links to the Twitter Files, Part VI, by independent journalist Matt Taibbi.)
First, the FBI’s control over Twitter:
https://t.co/ZQeb9Ko06p an internal email from November 5, 2022, the FBI’s National Election Command Post, which compiles and sends on complaints, sent the SF field office a long list of accounts that “may warrant additional action”: pic.twitter.com/yILcgjFyev
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 16, 2022
In #18, Taibbi features an image of an internal email dated November 6th, 2022 between Michael at the FBI’s NECP (National Election Command Post) and Agent Elvis Chan at the FBI’s San Francisco (SF) office. Apparently the NECP wanted the SF office to contact Twitter officials to request:
(Quoted from the email)
1. Coordination between SF and Twitter to determine whether the accounts identified below have violated Twitter’s terms of service and may be subject [to] any actions deemed appropriate by Twitter.
Federal government agents in the FBI’s NECP appear to be acting as contracted workers for a private company (Twitter) to flag and recommend private citizens for Twitter disciplinary action. Note that the email doesn’t cite specific posts (not that that would be appropriate either), it just gives a list of accounts that it recommends Twitter officials take action on. Basically it’s a list of Twitter users the government doesn’t like and wants punished. Michael from the NECP continues…
2. The issuance of preservation letters regarding the accounts identified below in order to preserve subscriber information and content information pending the issuance of legal process.
The FBI asks Twitter to preserve private subscriber information in case they want to pursue legal action against the subscribers listed in the email for…what crime? Examples of these Twitter users’ tweets are grouped together in a too low resolution image shown in #21. Taibbi describes the FBI-named Twitter users and their tweets as “satirical in nature, nearly all (with the exceptions of [Billy] Baldwin and @RSBNetwork) were relatively low engagement…”
Agent Elvis Chan from the FBI’s SF office passes on (#19) the NECP’s request to Twitter later that same day (11/06/22) via an email that reads in part, “…[L]et us know if we need to issue a preservation letter as we intend to serve legal process for these accounts.” Why? Because “we believe [these accounts] are violating your terms of service by disseminating false information about the time, place, or manner of the upcoming elections.” Twitter’s policies and the company’s response to users breaking those policies is one thing, but what’s the federal crime?
Back to the NECP to SF FBI internal email from #18:
3. Any location information associated with the accounts that Twitter will voluntarily provide to aid the FBI in assigning any follow-up deemed necessary to the appropriate FBI field office.
A federal law enforcement and intelligence agency, the FBI, asks Twitter to “voluntarily provide” (without a warrant) location information of private citizens who have not committed a crime in case a local FBI field office wants to send over a couple of agents to do what exactly…knock on the door of their private residences to intimidate them? Chilling.
Patrick from Twitter reports back (#20) in detail to their FBI “partner” (Agent Chan) two days later (11/08/22) on the actions they’ve taken against those accounts. Patrick seems to tacitly agree with the FBI’s plan to submit preservation letters for private user information and adds that “it is a good way to ensure that the data hasn’t been purged from our systems before legal process if filed and processed.” He concludes by telling Agent Chan that “[e]xternally the contact for submitting those is the same.” Well gosh, that’s nice of Patrick to save the FBI the trouble of searching for duplicate contact info! This “jump? how high?” groveling from Twitter employees toward their FBI contacts is summarized in a tweet Taibbi posted after the thread, in which he analogously describes the relationship between the FBI and Twitter as “master-canine“.
From the Twitter Files: Twitter, The FBI Subsidiary:
The latest documents show, in bulk, the master-canine relationship between the FBI and Twitterhttps://t.co/Am4jo59Js3— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 16, 2022
Taibbi contacted two of the users named in the FBI NECP’s email (#18) to get their responses. @Lexitollah replied “My thoughts initially include 1. Seems like prima facie 1A violation 2. Holy cow, me, an account with the reach of an amoeba 3. What else are they looking at?” @Tiberius444 said, “I can’t believe the FBI is policing jokes on Twitter. That’s crazy.”
Finally, Taibii responds to Democrat Congressman Ted Lieu, who has accused him of “undermining and lying about federal law enforcement” in his Twitter Files VI thread:
Being on that committee you should know:
– How much has been spent, and how many DHS/DOJ employees have been assigned, to monitoring and flagging social media?
– Why is the FBI asking for "location information" about ordinary Americans and media outlets like @RSBNetwork? https://t.co/wWJwDxPmpl— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 17, 2022
It’s sad but not surprising that Lieu isn’t bothered by the FBI’s criminalization of speech by everyday Americans, and instead misrepresents to what Taibbi wrote and resorts to the “how dare you besmirch the good name of our wonderful and above reproach FBI!” distraction defense.
The Lincoln Project had (has?) a Twitter back channel to Stephanie and Bridget:
(#24) In an email dated September 16, 2022 from Twitter legal executive Stephanie Cardille to (now formerly) Twitter’s Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI lawyer, and Russia hoax pusher) Jim Baker, one of the last lines under the section “(6) Escalations. I handled the following escalations:” reads:
Lincoln Project is not pleased their video was labeled under SAMM. Bridget is driving that interaction.
I don’t know what SAMM is an abbreviation for. Anyone? Whatever it is, the Lincoln Project’s problem with it is important enough to bring up to Jim Baker.
Published in Electionshttps://t.co/9IfX3IPzyi a letter to former Deputy General Counsel (and former top FBI lawyer) Jim Baker on Sep. 16, 2022, legal exec Stacia Cardille outlines results from her “soon to be weekly” meeting with DHS, DOJ, FBI, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence: pic.twitter.com/oE8fDjomNP
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 16, 2022
Thanks. This makes things easier. I can now refer to the FBI, to twitter, and to the left-wing Lincoln project by simply referring to the government.
Twitter THEN, but not Twitter NOW.
Up until recently “the government” was such convenient shorthand! Here are a few more interesting post Twitter Files VI tweets from Taibbi:
His response to a comment on his own journalistic priorities and quality of output:
His reaction to the FBI’s official response to the Twitter Files VI thread:
Not all companies are as submissive to the FBI as Twitter was up until recently:
T-Mobile?! Who knew?
I’ve had questions about the FBI for a long time. There was a disappearance of a young woman in Colorado that the “Dateline” TV show covered (or maybe it was covered by “48 Hours.”) And there seemed to be a connection between this young woman and an individual who was identified, a very questionable guy, in whose company this mixed up young adult had been seen.
But although the FBI had been on the case, they said there were reasons why they couldn’t go after this man. (What? A low life drifter – and he has immunity from the FBI for possible kidnapping murder?)
Then I got this sent me on one my social media accounts. I have not vetted it, so who knows if it is true? But if it is true, was Epstein giving them names so they relayed these names to the important Deep State actors who would use that knowledge of the Epstein-involved individuals as a way to ensure that the tainted individuals do the bidding of the Deep State?
Can’t speak specifically to any if these companies but the joke in IT has been for years that most these companies have more government employees on their payrolls than IT workers. Twitter files seem to confirm that they are effectively contractors for the government and answer to them. Most companies are to some degree but the media companies seem to have been captured by government
Phone companies aren’t as uniformly woke as Twitter & Co. were. They are more likely to encounter an executive with a Gadsden flag on display in his yard and a “Come Back With a Warrant” doormat on the front porch.
You know – an extremist.
So the FBI wants to judge humor? I hear that the FBI jokes the residents tell in Leavenworth are real killers.
Thanks for the post DJ EJ. Great Work.
This just confirms what many of us suspected for a long time.
So what is the new Congress going to do? We know what they should do, but will they do it or even can they do it?
Where are the prosecutions? I want everyone even minimally involved given a $100 million fine and a life sentence.
Is this not a horrifically major Constitutional Crisis because the FBI and presumably the DOJ knew all about these illegal contacts, orders etc and not only did nothing but pushed them?What about the “Take Care” clause. Did the DOJ or FBI “take care” to see that our rights were protected? I know, I know ………… not on your life.
Will the Supremes slow walk this just like the J6 Committee stuff?
This only makes their refusal to look at the 2020 election even worse. If they slow walk again there may be real hell to pay.
Even if Congress wants to press charges, don’t they have to turn it over to the DOJ for that?