California congressman Ted Lieu suggested journalist Matt Taibbi was “spewing Kremlin talking points” in a Friday tweet.
Lieu’s comment follows a brief Twitter spat between the two beginning Thursday night.
“You can believe gaslighting by [Matt Taibbi], or you can believe facts. Russian meddling was not manufactured,” Lieu tweeted following Taibbi’s latest installment of the Twitter Files revealing “Russiagate” propaganda was artificially manufactured by politicians and media outlets to gin up fear of collusion.
“DOJ indicted 12 Russian Intel officers for hacking: ‘defendants claimed to be American hacktivists and used…Twitter accounts to promote the website,'” the Californian congressman continued, providing a link to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“What [Ted Lieu] leaves out is that the DOJ indicted 12 individuals they knew would never show up in court, but had to drop two related cases of companies that did fight back, rather than go through discovery,” Taibbi responded Friday afternoon, rebutting Lieu’s link to a New York Times article corroborating his original statement.
What @TedLieu leaves out is that the DOJ indicted 12 individuals they knew would never show up in court, but had to drop two related cases of companies that did fight back, rather than go through discovery: https://t.co/NPVKm3Pvgq https://t.co/xAMUHyZpLO
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 13, 2023
“What [Matt Taibbi] leaves out is that the article he cites explains DOJ dropped the two cases because discovery would give the Russians information they could weaponize,” Lieu followed up shortly after.
“Congressman, I’m an American citizen, I love my country, and accusing me of repeating ‘Kremlin talking points’ when I report something you find inconvenient is beyond reprehensible,” Taibbi shot back.
“You and your sleazy red-baiting pals in congress should be ashamed.”
Congressman, I’m an American citizen, I love my country, and accusing me of repeating “Kremlin talking points” when I report something you find inconvenient is beyond reprehensible. You and your sleazy red-baiting pals in congress should be ashamed. https://t.co/ooBok40jxF
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 13, 2023
Taibbi revealed Californian Democratic politicians Adam Schiff and Dianne Feinstein requested Twitter and Facebook investigate alleged Russian Bot activity in conjunction with 2018’s #ReleaseTheMemo campaign.
The campaign advocated for a public release of a four-page memorandum written by Californian representative Devin Nunes’ staff, despite the outlet informing the Californian politicians their claim lacked evidence.
The memo claimed the FBI “may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources” to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant regarding early investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.
Democratic Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal also published a letter echoing Schiff and Feinstein’s request.
“We find it reprehensible that Russian agents have so eagerly manipulated innocent Americans,” wrote Blumenthal.
Former head of trust and safety at Twitter Yoel Roth was also unable to find Russian connections to the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign.
“I just reviewed the accounts that posted the first 50 tweets with #releasethememo and… none of them show any signs of affiliation to Russia,” wrote Roth.
Previous Twitter Files installments revealed the outlet had numerous interactions with the FBI and other government agencies influencing Twitter’s censorship policies.
