It seems desperate Democrats are seeing Russians behind every blade of grass. Now they’re blaming Russian “bots” for the viral #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag being used by a number of people to demand that Congress make public a four-page memo said to expose a scandal described as being “worse than Watergate.”
According to The Hill and other sources, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter to Facebook and Twitter demanding they investigate the situation and “provide a public report to Congress and the American public by January 26” on the matter.
Both social media sites — well known for their censorship of non-PC accounts and content — acknowledged receipt of the letter.
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“Twitter is committed to addressing malicious activity on our platform, and we take any assertions of such activity very seriously. We look forward to working closely with Senator Feinstein and Congressman Schiff to address their questions,” said a Twitter spokesperson.
ABC News tweeted the letter sent to the social media companies:
NEW: Sen. Feinstein, Rep. Schiff urge Facebook and Twitter to investigate involvement of Russian bots in pushing "Release the Memo" campaign: "If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors." pic.twitter.com/SkAci5NefK
— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018
According to The Hill:
Schiff and Feinstein in their letter cited data by the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy, which found that Russian bots on Twitter were advocating for legislators to make the memo public.
A source familiar with Twitter’s analytics said “the hashtags appear to be organically trending,” and seem to not be the result of a Russian led influence campaign.
The senators expressed concern that attempts by Russian actors to influence the release of the memo “are intended to influence congressional action and undermine Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation,” of the possible Trump campaign ties to Russia.
“It is critically important that the Special Counsel’s investigation be allowed to proceed without interference from inside or outside the United States,” the California lawmakers wrote. “That is why we seek your assistance in our efforts to counter Russia’s continuing efforts to manipulate public opinion and undermine American democracy and the rule of law.”
As a result, many said they personally contacted Schiff’s offices to let him know they’re real people, not “bots.”
https://twitter.com/Shelia_Kay/status/955843097174429697
#Qanon Call Feinstein and tell her you're not a bot. (415) 393-0707 Leave voicemail. Thanks, B. #Wearenotbots
— Patriot Lady Loves METAL!???? (@Microsingular) January 23, 2018
A very rude young man in AS office just hung up on me. After he talked over me and wouldn't even let me finish a sentence.
— Romona ⭐⭐⭐ (@rromona) January 23, 2018
Mark Dice also weighed in:
https://twitter.com/MarkDice/status/955933003024224256
So have many others concerned about the memo and its implications.
Schiff’s latest move comes on the heels of a statement in which he essentially said Americans simply can’t understand what’s in the memo. He attempted to justify his insult to CNN reporter Ana Cabrera, according to a transcript posted by Grabien:
Adam Schiff: It is essentially a set of talking points that the Republican Intel staff drafted. Based on the highly classified materials which most of the Republican members were forced to acknowledge. They’ve not even read. So they don’t know how distorted these talking points are. But as part of the narrative they want to push out. Interestingly enough, they’ve made common cause once again with Russian bots because Russian bots are pushing their narrative out there. It’s in a redux of the campaign. We have Assange and Wikileaks and Russian trolls and bots saying, you know, hash tag whatever the GOP narrative is. That ought to tell you a lot about what’s driving this.
Ana Cabrera: Why not allow people to look at it and let Americans make the decision for themselves about whether it’s useful information or not?
Schiff: Well, because the American people unfortunately don’t have the underlying materials and therefore they can’t see how distorted and misleading this document is. The Republicans are not saying, ‘Make the underlying materials available to the public.’ They just want to make this spin available to the public. I think that spin, which is a fulsome attack on the FBI, is just designed to attack the FBI and Bob Mueller to circle the wagons for the White House. And that’s a terrible disservice to the people, hard working people at the Bureau, but more than that, it’s a disservice to the country.
It would seem that both Feinstein and Schiff are in full desperation mode as the entire Trump-Russia conspiracy is falling apart, exposing what appears to be a highly corrupt cabal deeply embedded in Washington.
Worse yet, this could be used as an excuse by both Facebook and Twitter to further censor those whose political opinions fall to the right of Josef Stalin.
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