TruthArchive.ai - Tweets Saved By @bhweingarten
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Tony Bobulinski lawyer @jbinnall issues retraction demand and preservation notice to Rep. Dan Goldman, threatening to file suit for defamation. The letter reads in part: You are hereby given notice that litigation is imminent due to recent defamatory comments you made about Mr. Bobulinski on X (formerly Twitter). Specifically, on March 21, 2024, you wrote, “Tony Bobulinski has used a Trump campaign-paid lawyer to make false allegations since October 2020.” To be clear, as you are well aware given your position, Mr. Bobulinski has not told any lies about his firsthand knowledge of the Biden family. Your statement, as though it were a matter of fact, that Mr. Bobulinski has lied to federal investigators, as well as Congress, is defamatory per se and will not be tolerated. Further, President Trump’s campaign has never paid Mr. Bobulinski’s legal fees. In fact, Mr. Bobulinski has paid over $500,000, in legal fees to numerous lawyers in law firms out of his own pocket since 2020. If you do not immediately delete the post from X and publicly retract your statement on X within five days of receiving this letter, we will file suit against you.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
🧵My impression walking out of SCOTUS yesterday, having witnessed oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri was demoralization. The Censorship Industrial Complex proved itself in the case to have cajoled, coerced, and colluded with social media platforms to censor Wrongthinking Americans en masse, and yet that the government's "partners" abridged clear protected political speech wasn't clearly presented and argued. Whether we will retain anything resembling a First Amendment likely hinges on Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett. Herein, a thread I will update as I parse the transcript🧵 https://nypost.com/2024/03/18/opinion/the-supreme-court-hints-it-may-give-away-our-free-speech-rights-in-social-media-censorship-case/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Multiple times the U.S. government lamented how the plaintiffs in the case were using the courts to "audit" their efforts to conspire with social media platforms to censor us on the Hunter Biden laptop story, election integrity and outcomes, and COVID. Unmentioned is that without Murthy v. Missouri we would've never known about this conspiracy to kill our First Amendment. Is the government's issue with the audit or with what the audit revealed about its depredations?
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher sought to make this case about the government using mere "persuasion" (legal) versus "coercion" (illegal) to pressure social media companies to violate the First Amendment on its behalf as deputized speech police. While there was a raft of evidence of coercion, Philip Hamburger -- whose @NCLAlegal represents some of the plaintiffs in Murthy -- persuasively makes the case that that isn't the right standard. As the plaintiffs wrote in their brief, citing Hamburger: "The First Amendment does not require a strict showing of explicit coercion, but capaciously protects the freedom of speech from any 'abridging' (i.e., diminishing) of that freedom."
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Another key plank of the government's case is that the freeze on fed-led speech policing imposed by the Louisiana District Court and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals "radically expanded the state action doctrine by holding that even concededly non-coercive communications, like the CDC's public health advice [I would put that in air quotes], can transform private platforms' editorial choices into state action." Thing is, if we do not "radically expand[] the state action doctrine" -- idea being that when a state pressures, coordinates, and colludes with private entities, it transforms them into state entities restricted by the First Amendment, etc. -- then we're going to see the state weaponize virtually every institution against Wrongthinkers to do its bidding. If you want to avoid a social credit system, I'm not sure how you don't expand state action doctrine. That's one reason this case transcends the First Amendment.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Worth noting upfront, beyond the "persuasion" versus "coercion" argument, and the fact that the First Amendment protects the government from "abridging" speech -- the district court emphasized that "significant encouragement" of a third party to violate the First Amendment on the government's behalf is a sufficient standard too. This calls for a stricter standard to which government officials must adhere. And shouldn't they be subjected to such a standard to protect us from state speech policing? The appellate court agreed that the Biden White House, FBI, CDC, Surgeon General's Office and CISA all engaged in "significant encouragement." The feds naturally disagreed with this analysis, and unfortunately so too may SCOTUS.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Thomas early in questioning calls out the government over its belief in an expansive government right to speech (but, left unsaid, apparently a far more narrow right for Americans). USG: "It's not a right that comes from the First Amendment. It's a feature of our constitutional democracy." Is it a "feature of our constitutional democracy" though to use government speech (backed with the awesome powers of the federal government) to deputize speech police and abridge our rights?
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Sotomayor presses Fletcher to explain how the preliminary injunction in question freezing federal speech policing by proxy harms the government. Fletcher, framing this case as if the government is largely concerned with combatting foreign threats through consorting with social media platforms regarding content moderation -- when in reality it used the foreign pretext to target Americans on a whole bevy of political and public policy issues -- says "if the injunction were put in place, the FBI would have to think very hard about" its communications with platforms. That's the whole point though, isn't it? The government should have to think long and hard when it is considering taking action that could violate our rights.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The government also "think[s] it's really troubling, the idea that...classic bully pulpit exhortations, public statements urging actors to behave in different ways, might be deemed to violate the First Amendment." But those public comments were only a fraction of the plaintiffs' case, which showed that privately -- and with the threat of adverse consequences -- the feds repeatedly browbeat and badgered platforms to censor Wrongthinkers
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The other big argument the government continued to return to was a lack of "traceability" from government words to social media company censorship. I thought the plaintiffs could've argued this much more vigorously as they did at the lower courts based on the voluminous evidence compiled. As the district court found: "A drastic increase in censorship, deboosting, shadow-banning, and account suspensions directly coincided with Defendants’ public calls for censorship and private demands for censorship...The Plaintiffs’ theory of but-for causation is easy to follow and demonstrates a high likelihood of success as to establishing Article III traceability"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The government also says "we certainly don't think that they [the plaintiffs] have shown that they face the sort of imminent threat of future injury that's required to satisfy Article III." Translation: It wants the Censorship Industrial Complex to be fully operative in 2024
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Alito presses the government on it's dismissing the findings of the district and appellate courts regarding the plaintiffs' standing
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The government dismisses the idea that there are smoking guns in Murthy v. Missouri of government directing censorship and then the social media companies censoring. Yet repeatedly government officials flag specific posts and accounts for platforms, press the platforms to censor such content, ask the platforms what actions they've taken, suggest content moderation policies and ask if the platforms have updated accordingly, etc. The direct and indirect pressure was unending. Look no further than my testimony regarding CISA -- which drew largely from the discovery in Murthy. And that was simply one DHS sub-agency. This is a disingenuous argument I wish the plaintiffs had hammered home at oral arguments https://weingarten.substack.com/p/full-testimony-dhs-and-cisas-pivotal
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Alito points to the government-as-mafia subtext underlying this case -- that when it constantly browbeats and demands that a private company do X, Y, Z, it does so with immense power. What's more, it does so here with platforms who use a Section 230 shield while at the same time acting as publishers, not neutral conduits for communication
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The government makes a very telling comment here that deserves emphasis. It claims turning the social media platforms into deputized speech police could be attributed in part to "an effort to get Americans vaccinated during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. And I really think that piece of context, it doesn't change the First Amendment principles, but it's relevant to how they apply here." The thing is, when there's a crisis and major public policy issues being discussed, that is precisely when you need MORE SPEECH, MORE SCRUTINY. Not less. There's no exception as the government notes for the First Amendment because government declares a crisis or emergency. The slippery slope is obvious. So is the idea that government will use myriad pretexts going forward to censor us if they evade punishment in Murthy
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
...This is to say nothing of the fact that government got so much wrong with respect to the pandemic. Its tyrannical approach to dissenting views of course was anti-scientific, and arguably did great damage to public health while at the same time eroding liberty and justice
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Here's how the government alibis the idea that there's anything insidious about government and social media platforms serving as "partners" in censoring us https://t.co/PQvEzMISqU
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Alito pressed the government on defending its berating of the social media platforms over their need to engage in greater COVID censorship in one humorous exchange https://t.co/9N2mDkhN1Q
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Note again the government lamenting that the real problem here is that we the public might engage in a "sprawling audit" of its efforts to chide, cajole, and coerce social media platforms to silence us. Imagine applying this "anti-sprawling audit" standard to, say, Donald Trump https://t.co/BHrmk21hso
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
In a rare instance of skepticism, Justice Kavanaugh briefly presses the government on its "partnering" with the social media platforms in content moderation. The government characterizes the relationship as an "open door." But is it an "open door" when you're being hectored publicly about the danger of "mis-, dis-, and mal-information" proliferating on your platforms, and officials all across the government are engaging in a "sprawling audit" of your efforts, constantly pestering and browbeating you to censor more, and doing it all with the potential power to break you via regulation and law?
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Jackson is perhaps even more radical than the government in her view of the First Amendment. By her logic you'd think it's written in the Constitution that the state has an inalienable right to censor the citizen when it deems that circumstances merit it -- as well as that the state is omniscient
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
One key related distinction that the plaintiffs only get to very late in the arguments is that the government can provide competing speech to Wrongthinkers -- it can't silence them, directly or by proxy. As Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga will argue later, "if the government thinks there's false speech out there, the remedy for that is true speech"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Gorsuch gets the government to concede that not just threats but inducements could each be coercive -- including regarding Section 230. He also presses the government on President Biden using the bully pulpit to claim platforms were "killing people" by allowing people to engage in Wrongthink regarding COVID
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Chief Justice Roberts asks the government to essentially define "coercion." The government's position is that "if there's something that the government is saying that we're going to exercise government power in some way unless you change your speech in some way or stop distributing the speech of others, if it's reasonably understood as that sort of a threat, that's a First Amendment problem"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Chief Justice Roberts presses further regarding the "reasonable person" standard for determining coercion, and points to the idea that context matters -- seemingly to the government's benefit. That Roberts doesn't push back here about the nature of the feds' interactions with the social media platforms is very telling
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
U.S. government: "when the government persuades a private party not to distribute or promote someone else's speech, that's not censorship; that's persuading a private party to do something that they're lawfully entitled to do, and there are lots of contexts where government officials can persuade private parties to do things that the officials couldn't do directly." If the "persuading" -- badgering, browbeating, threatening -- the government engaged in in Murthy, leading to arguably the greatest assault on free speech in human history, is allowed to stand, think about what will come next
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Justice Thomas presses the government on the idea that the government and social media platforms could've colluded to censor speech, rather than that there was coercion. The back-and-forth also seems to approach antitrust territory, about government-induced collusion between the platforms to censor speech
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The government wants you to believe that the censorship regime imposed under pretext of COVID and the 2020 election won't persist and grow infinitely more pervasive and sophisticated https://t.co/TWdaELxQFo
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
🧵The Ultimate Thread on Biden’s Betrayal of Israel The notion that President Joe Biden is a stalwart supporter of Israel, let alone acting in the best interests of the U.S. in the Middle East, is and has been a complete and total canard. This Big Lie, propagated by the administration and its mouthpieces, provides cover for what amounts to an anti-American plot to put the screws to Israel, as part and parcel of an effort to make the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, Iran, the regional hegemon. Since Oct. 7th – a Holocaust-in-a-day perpetrated by Iran’s proxy Hamas – despite initial rhetoric to the contrary and the continued provision of munitions (for now), the Biden admin has shown in word and more importantly deed that it is doing everything it possibly can within political reason to slander, stymie, sabotage, and ultimately imperil the very existence of our chief ally in the Middle East. Now the Biden admin is going in for the kill shot: A push to force the Jewish state to effectively lose the war to Hamas, free hundreds if not thousands of jihadists, and reward a Palestinian Arab population overwhelmingly supportive of the Oct. 7 massacre and Hamas with a state in a bid to “sue for peace” with Iran -- threatening Israel's very existence in exchange for purported "normalization" with Arab powers. What follows is an effort to chronicle the Biden admin's treachery towards Israel. This thread should serve as the death knell of the false narrative that Biden supports the Jewish state – and more fundamentally that he is representing the interests of the American people over those of our adversaries with the blood of our countrymen on their hands.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/7/23: The very day in which Hamas executes the most deadly and barbaric attack on Israel in its modern history – raping, murdering, burning, mutilating, beheading, and taking hostage innocents totaling 1,200 dead and approximately 240 abducted – including among them ~40 Americans – U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs urges “all sides” including Israel “to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks.” It quickly deletes the message, but this reflexive response will prove revealing
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/8/23: Sec. of State Antony Blinken likewise tweets and then quickly deletes post encouraging Turkey’s “advocacy for a cease-fire” https://x.com/RobbieGramer/status/1711366571665342603?s=20 State Dept. would reportedly issue a directive barring such rhetoric in public statements, but within months wholly obliterate that order https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-internal-emails-gaza-israel_n_65296395e4b0a304ff6ff95d
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The U.S. announces it is moving a carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a plan administration officials say aims to “deter[]…other states or non-state actors that might seek to widen this war” – not specifically Iran despite its menacing from the north. Nearly 100,000 Israelis will be displaced from the region. Meanwhile, evidence will suggest this show of force is as much about deterring Israel from striking Hezbollah and Iranian proxies, as those proxies from striking Israel, the U.S., and other allies and partners. Those proxies will launch an endless barrage of attacks undeterred in the coming months https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/was-bidens-speech-as-pro-israel-as-you-think At the same time, the U.S. will feverishly work to de-link Iran from the Oct. 7 attack, and the aggression of its proxies more broadly https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-america-october-massacre
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/10/23: Politico reports U.S. officials call for Israel to respond to Oct. 7 attack in a “proportionate” manner, with Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer stressing “It is our advice that this war be conducted based on principles of international law.” Officials will restate this and similar lines endlessly in the coming weeks. The implication is that Israel, which boasts perhaps the most ethical and humanitarian-focused army in the history of mankind, would violate such standards https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/10/us-israel-response-hamas-00120733
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/11/23: As WSJ will later report, with Israeli warplanes awaiting the order to strike Hezbollah as part of a multipronged attack, President Biden tells Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stand down.” Hezbollah will engage in numerous attacks subsequently, while again nearly 100,000 Israelis from the north will become refugees in their own land https://archive.ph/hNR9z
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/12/23: Five days after Oct. 7, Biden admin emphasizes “it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians” https://x.com/USPalAffairs/status/1713234758841315362?s=20 In a thinly-veiled warning, Sec. Blinken says in remarks after meeting with PM Netanyahu “how Israel does this matters. We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard – even when it’s difficult – and holding ourselves to account when we fall short… That’s why it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.” https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-and-israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-after-their-meeting-2/ During his visit to Israel, where Blinken will become a perpetual presence, he meets with Brothers in Arms, which had served as the military wing of the resistance to PM Netanyahu during the judicial reform fight, as well as opposition leader Yair Lapid https://www.jns.org/as-biden-turns-against-israel-netanyahu-must-stand-strong/ Blinken also says, in a line the admin will repeat ad nauseum that “We know Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations to live with equal measures of security, freedom, justice, opportunity, and dignity.” Beyond the fact Hamas was elected by Gazans, that Gazan civilians gleefully cheered on the Oct. 7 attack, and many were active participants in it, including holding hostages for months on end, polls will also show that Palestinian Arabs overwhelmingly support the Oct. 7 attack, genocide against the Jews, and favor Hamas over the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority https://x.com/USPalAffairs/status/1712472034356453835?s=20; https://x.com/bhweingarten/status/1749924165774086397?s=20;
@USPalAffairs - U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs
Jerusalem Oct 12, 2023 Secretary Blinken: "That’s why it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. And that’s why we mourn the loss of every innocent life, civilians of every faith, and nationality who have been killed." https://rb.gy/qv2ro
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/13/23: Six days after Oct. 7, State Dept. Spokesman Matthew Miller tweets that Sec. Blinken “reiterated that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights” – setting the stage for bolstering the PA to lead a future Palestinian state https://x.com/StateDeptSpox/status/1712816679745364115?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/14/23: A week after Oct. 7, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stresses that Israel must act within rules of war and protect civilians https://x.com/spectatorindex/status/1713298811962249286?s=20 WaPo will later report that after Sec. Austin’s visit to Israel, Biden NatSec and foreign policy team would become “increasingly concerned that a ground assault would turn into an open-ended quagmire” and begin to sour on a massive ground invasion https://archive.ph/ZkjnO#selection-985.99-985.182
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/15/23: President Biden starts to set down desired outcomes for Israel-Hamas War, calling it a “big mistake” if Israel were to occupy Gaza, and suggesting “there needs to be a Palestinian Authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state” post-war. https://archive.ph/n0y4w#selection-3895.219-3915.0 In a tweet, Joe Biden de-links “suffering” Palestinians from Hamas https://x.com/POTUS/status/1713525125478228437?s=20 Admin officials suggest they will insist that Israel permit humanitarian aid during the course of any coming invasion – de facto resupply for Hamas, while as @CarolineGlick notes, feeding the Hamas propaganda campaign that Israel rather than the jihadist group is responsible for the destruction in Gaza https://archive.ph/ZNv70; https://www.jns.org/as-biden-turns-against-israel-netanyahu-must-stand-strong/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/16/23: @Tabletmag reports Biden admin calls on Israel not to launch a preemptive strike against Hezbollah despite its continued attacks on Israelis, in exchange for the U.S. committing assets if Hezbollah attacks first. Sec. Blinken also conveys to Israel that the U.S. “will find it difficult to support a military operation in Gaza that involves widespread harm to civilians” – a virtual impossibility given Hamas’ explicit use of civilians and civilian infrastructure to protect itself https://x.com/bhweingarten/status/1714039148997226605?s=20 Biden admin announces the president will visit Israel, further delaying its ground invasion of Gaza https://x.com/JSchanzer/status/1714098497857679465?s=20 Sec. Blinken telegraphs Pres. Biden will “receive a comprehensive brief on Israel's war aims and strategy” and “hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way the minimizes civilian casualties” and allows aid to flow https://x.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/1714071658191863879?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/17/23: In reporting on Biden’s trip to Israel, CNN reveals visit was conditioned on Israel opening Gaza to humanitarian aid https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/politics/inside-joe-biden-israel-trip-planning/index.html National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson John Kirby says, on eve of Biden’s visit, that POTUS “wants to get a sense from the Israelis about the situation on the ground, and more critically, their objectives, their plans, their intentions in the days and weeks ahead. And he'll be asking some tough questions” https://x.com/mlakan/status/1714448929142497492?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/18/23: During remarks in Tel Aviv, Biden tells Israelis that “Justice must be done,” but “don’t be consumed by [rage];” emphasizes that Israel “live[s] by the rule of law” and “law of wars;” that war “requires being deliberate…asking very hard questions;” while noting “The Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well,” and calling on the Israeli cabinet “to agree to the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/10/18/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-october-7th-terrorist-attacks-and-the-resilience-of-the-state-of-israel-and-its-people-tel-aviv-israel/ Despite knowledge purported “humanitarian assistance” to Gaza had been used to turn it into a mini-terror state in the first place – underwriting the Oct. 7 massacre – the Biden admin commits $100M in aid to Gaza and the West Bank https://x.com/USPalAffairs/status/1717412400142442852?s=20; https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/18/u-s-announcement-of-humanitarian-assistance-to-the-palestinian-people/ Admin says “If Hamas diverts or steals the assistance…it will end.” The admin will not cease such aid, and will in fact demand ever-greater amounts of aid be surged despite ample evidence over the coming weeks it is being commandeered by the jihadist group https://x.com/ElliotKaufman6/status/1757459676751413261?s=20; https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-aid-trucks-stolen-by-gunmen-and-looted-as-convoys-start-crossing-from-israel/; https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/palestinian-territories/1702285314-caught-on-camera-hamas-terrorists-steal-humanitarian-aid-beat-civilians; https://x.com/CarolineGlick/status/1751688519284584751?s=20 Biden also says “we must keep pursuing peace. We must keep pursuing a path so that Israel and the Palestinian people can both live safely, in security, in dignity, and in peace. For me, that means a two-state solution.” That day the Biden admin lets UN sanctions on Iranian ballistic missile, drone programs lapse.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/20/23: When asked why Israel permitted aid before Hamas released all hostages, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says “The Americans insisted and we are not in a place where we can refuse them. We rely on them for planes and military equipment. What are we supposed to do? Tell them no?” https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gallant-we-cant-say-no-to-the-us-on-humanitarian-aid-given-how-much-they-do-for-us/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/21/23: Two weeks after Oct. 7, Joe Biden again signals his ultimate desire to effectively reward Hamas, tweeting, “As hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace. We cannot give up on a two-state solution.” https://x.com/POTUS/status/1715790062359593029?s=20 That same day the first shipment of “humanitarian aid,” which will be exploited by Hamas, enters Gaza. https://x.com/PowerUSAID/status/1715806009057329449?s=20https://jewishinsider.com/2024/01/house-committee-unrwa-chief-philippe-lazzarini-aid-gaza-hamas/ Amb. Beth Jones reiterates at Cairo Peace Summit that “President Biden cautioned Israel not to become blinded by rage. Civilian lives must be protected, and assistance must urgently reach those in need. We will continue to work closely with our partners in the region to stress the importance of upholding the law of war, respect for international humanitarian law…” She also reiterates that “the vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas, and Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people” https://eg.usembassy.gov/remarks-by-charge-daffaires-ambassador-beth-jones-at-the-cairo-peace-summit/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/22/23: Reports emerge that the Biden administration, led by Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein, is working to prevent Israel from striking Hezbollah. https://x.com/AcrossTheBay/status/1727426851683897799?s=20 That same day, NYT reports Biden admin is advising Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza “hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/us/politics/us-hostages-israel-gaza.html POTUS also sends a “both-sides” tweet, indicating that while Israel “has a right to defend itself,” PM “Netanyahu and I have discussed how Israel must operate by the laws of war. That means protecting civilians in combat as best as they can. We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace. That’s why I secured an agreement for the first shipment of humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. And we cannot give up on a two-state solution.” https://x.com/POTUS/status/1716084761184100418?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/23/23: Report suggests President Biden tells PM Netanyahu to refrain from taking aggressive action against Hezbollah in the north during temporary ceasefire https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-biden-asked-netanyahu-to-seek-to-calm-northern-front-during-temporary-truce/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/25/23: Now nearly three weeks removed from the worst attack against Israel in its modern history, Axios details that “President Biden, despite his full-throated support for Israel and its right to strike Hamas, has methodically and meticulously delayed the looming invasion of Gaza, U.S. officials tell us.” Consequently, he buys Hamas time to hunker down and move assets around in preparation for a coming incursion, eliminates Israel’s ability to seize the initiative with any sort of element of surprise, and allows international pressure to mount against Israel as casualties result from air strikes. This effort is largely built on the idea that delaying the invasion provides time for “hostage diplomacy.” The Biden admin will repeatedly seek to use the desire for releasing hostages as leverage to get Israel not to prosecute the war as needed to defeat Hamas. https://www.axios.com/2023/10/25/biden-israel-hamas-strategy-gaza-invasion Separately, in a joint press conference with PM Albanese of Australia, President Biden declares “There’s no going back to the status quo as it stood on October the 6th . . . When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next. And in our view, it has to be a two-state solution” https://x.com/USPalAffairs/status/1717471243132182839?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/26/23: WaPo reports that “The Biden administration is urging Israel to rethink its plans for a major ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and instead to opt for a more “surgical” operation using aircraft and special operations forces carrying out precise, targeted raids on high-value Hamas targets and infrastructure” https://archive.ph/ZkjnO#selection-583.0-583.289
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/27/23: WaPo reports that three weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre, Biden admin officials begin exerting pressure on Israel to take a “humanitarian pause” from airstrikes to surge aid into Gaza https://archive.ph/1tpZN
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/28/23: Israel begins ground invasion of Gaza https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/eu-calls-humanitarian-pauses-gaza-aid-israel-raids-enclave-2023-10-26/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/29/23: President Biden issues tweet indicating he does not want Gazans displaced to Egypt, keeping civilians amassed in Gaza and thereby making Israel’s war effort substantially more difficult – ultimately concentrating Palestinian Arabs in planned Rafah offensive to come https://x.com/POTUS/status/1718740437249245326?s=20 Readout of conversation between Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi confirms that they discussed “ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced to Egypt or any other nation.” That same day, U.S. successfully pressures Israel into restoring phone and internet comms in Gaza – after Israel had jammed internet and telecoms networks upon entering Gaza for its ground offensive https://archive.ph/eTZQk; https://archive.ph/KCSZ2 Axios’ Barak Ravid reports that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says that President Biden will speak to PM Netanyahu and “stress the need for the IDF to do every possible effort to distinguish between terrorists and Palestinian civilians during the ground operation in Gaza” https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1718623866463891500?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/30/23: Sec. Blinken says Israel must be in “compliance with international humanitarian law” and “urged Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm,” indicating Israel understood “massive levels of civilian life and displace scale we saw in the north [could] not be repeated in the south” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/blinken-urges-israel-to-comply-with-international-law-and-spare-civilians-in-war-against-hamas
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/1/23: State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller notes that in meetings in Jordan, Sec. Blinken will “reaffirm the U.S. commitment to working with partners to set the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace in the Middle East, to include the establishment of a Palestinian state that reflects the aspirations of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank” https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-november-1-2023/ In the start of something of a whisper campaign aimed at undermining if not toppling PM Netanyahu – something the admin had quietly supported dating back to the judicial reform crisis – Politico reports that “Joe Biden and top aides have discussed the likelihood that Benjamin Netanyahu’s political days are numbered,” with the expectation his tenure will end within months. According to a former official, reportedly “With an eye toward the future, U.S. officials are talking to Benny Gantz, a member of the current unity government; Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister; and Yair Lapid, an opposition leader and former prime minister, among other Israeli figures” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/01/biden-administration-thinks-netanyahu-may-not-last-politically-00124849 Also that day, @SenTomCotton tweets that “Biden is now secretly pressuring Israel to allow fuel into Gaza. Hamas has huge reserves of fuel that it could use for civilians, but instead stockpiles for its rockets and terror tunnels” https://x.com/SenTomCotton/status/1719815260851376426?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/2/23: President Biden calls for a “pause” in Israel’s ground offensive to “get the prisoners [hostages] out” of Gaza https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/what-happened-today-special-edition-e8f NYT adds in report that Sec. Blinken “will urge the Israeli government to agree to a series of brief cessations of military operations in Gaza to allow for hostages to be released safely and for humanitarian aid to be distributed” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/us/politics/biden-israel-gaza-fighting-pause.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/3/23: Reports emerge suggesting Sec. Blinken told Israeli counterparts of desire for a humanitarian pause, purportedly to buy it political cover from those demanding a ceasefire https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/israel-hamas-blinken-gaza-ceasefire
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/4/23: NYT reports that U.S. officials press Israel to use “smaller bombs” in targeting Hamas, to “employ[]…ground forces to separate civilian population centers from where the militants are concentrated,” and for “a series of pauses to fighting to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the exit of foreign nationals” – all of which imperiled Israeli lives and may have prolonged the war. The Times writes: “Changing Israel’s approach is a critical priority for the Biden administration. Mr. Blinken’s public comments that ‘we provided Israel advice that only the best of friends can offer on how to minimize civilian deaths’ underscored the shift in the administration’s position. U.S. officials say their private messages to the Israelis have been more blunt.’” https://archive.ph/Fy9zh According to @kann_news, the U.S. presses “Israel to allow humanitarian pauses in Gaza fighting to boost global legitimacy for war” https://x.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1720882618248356304?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/6/23: Report suggests U.S. conditions assault rifle delivery on weapons not being distributed to Jewish militias in Judea and Samaria – under purported fear of uptick in “settler violence” that will prove a false narrative. This is at the same time Palestinian Arabs are engaged in rampant terrorism against Jews in Judea and Samaria https://archive.ph/lhcjx https://archive.ph/BMpmS; https://www.jns.org/israeli-fm-condemns-settler-violence-narrative-as-blood-libel/; https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-myth-of-escalating-settler-violence/; https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/fraudulent-case-against-violent-settlers
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/9/23: Under pressure from Biden admin, Israel begins to implement humanitarian “pauses,” effectively flowing re-supply to Hamas, with Israel promising no military operations in relevant areas during said pauses. While acknowledging the challenge of Israel operating with Hamas using civilians as human shields, NSC’s Kirby says “At the same time, Israel has an obligation to fully comply with international law,” and “we believe these pauses are a step in the right direction” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/09/israel-humanitarian-pauses-gaza-00126355
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/10/23: Sec. Blinken says that “Far too many Palestinians have been killed. Far too many have suffered these past weeks…we’ll be continuing to discuss with Israel the concrete steps to be taken to advance these objectives [preventing civilian harm and maximizing aid]” https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-brings-notable-shift-us-191932122.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/11/23: Sec. Austin “emphasize[s]” to Israeli Defense Minister Gallant the need to “contain the conflict to Gaza and avoid regional escalation” per a readout, also reportedly asking Gallant to explain “Israeli air strikes in Lebanon” and “avoid steps that could lead to an all out war between Israel and Hezbollah,” per an unidentified Israeli official https://www.nysun.com/article/biden-in-a-stunning-reversal-wheels-on-israel-seeking-to-restrain-its-counterattacks-in-lebanon-and-syria?newsletter-access&utm_source=MG&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Evening%20Sun%20%202023-11-13; https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3586349/readout-of-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iiis-call-with-israeli-minister/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/12/23: Axios reports that “Some in the Biden administration are concerned Israel is trying to provoke Hezbollah and create a pretext for a wider war in Lebanon that could draw the U.S. and other countries further into the conflict, according to sources briefed on the issue” https://www.axios.com/2023/11/12/israel-lebanon-lloyd-austin-yoav-gallant-military
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/13/23: Sec. Blinken drafts memo emphasizing the desire for “Gaza unified with the West Bank,” calling for “No forcible displacement of Palestinian civilians from Gaza…No reoccupation of Gaza…Not attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza” – expressly setting conditions governing resolution to the war https://www.pdffiller.com/jsfiller-desk21/?flat_pdf_quality=low&isShareViaLink=1&requestHash=5359b781479459d446d40498b032c1ca4099bea8ec2f56865ba8ec67f48380c6&lang=en&projectId=1394848376&loader=tips&MEDIUM_PDFJS=true&PAGE_REARRANGE_V2_MVP=true&richTextFormatting=true&isPageRearrangeV2MVP=true&jsf-page-rearrange-v2=true&LATEST_PDFJS=true&jsf-document-scroll-zoom=true&jsf-redesign-full=true&act-notary-pro-integration=false&jsf-dss-v2=false&routeId=e37b3329d6aefa4e48917b9e5c864e74#2a3681f7d06b4a4fac7529ff59beb665 Biden official leaks dissatisfaction with PM Netanyahu’s rejection of Hamas-lite PA leading Gaza “the day after” war, with reports suggesting U.S. “has begun to ask about the possibility of a more moderate government being shuffled in.” It suggests “diplomatic umbrella” being provided by U.S. could collapse absent Israel bowing to desired policy https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-stances-frustrating-us-attempts-to-rally-arab-support-for-post-hamas-gaza/ That same day, WaPo reports of an emerging cease-fire-plus-hostages-for-terrorists exchange being mediated by the U.S.-supported Qataris between Israel and Hamas https://archive.ph/KWDPz Also, five weeks after Oct. 7, Biden sanctions Hamas-affiliated via terror designations that Sen. Ted Cruz national security advisor @omriceren says had been sitting “on the shelf” but left un-implemented “for ideological reasons” https://x.com/omriceren/status/1724468990225854788?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/18/23: In a WaPo op-ed, Pres. Biden writes that “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.” https://archive.ph/AVy6H The PA is led by Hamas-lite Fatah, which refused to condemn the Oct. 7 attacks; will compensate the families of the jihadists who perpetrated the attacks; has members who reportedly participated in the attacks; and whose leaders would demonstrate an interest in forming a government incorporating Hamas. Relatedly, Biden indicates the U.S. is preparing to impose sanctions on Israeli “extremists [purportedly] attacking [Palestinian Arab] civilians in the West Bank” https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1725976743234683347?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/21/23: NSC’s Kirby warns that Israel should not expand its operations into southern Gaza absent “a clearly articulated plan for how they’re going to protect the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people that have now been added to the population [in the south] because they were asked to leave by the Israelis” https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/what-happened-today-5d7
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/24/23: After weeks of effort and pressure from the Biden admin, Israel yields and agrees to multi-day war pause plus hostage exchange for three-times as many Palestinian Arab prisoners, many jihadists, plus surging of humanitarian aid to Gaza Separately, Biden says that conditioning military aid to Israel was a “worthwhile thought” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4326184-biden-conditions-on-aid-to-israel-a-worthwhile-thought/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/26/23: Biden asserts he wants four-day pause in Israel-Hamas war to extend https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/1701019872-biden-says-he-wants-the-truce-in-gaza-to-continue-past-original-four-days That same day, the British Daily Express reports that Israel’s Shabak knows where “many” of the then-240 hostages were located, but did not rescue them due to the threat of collateral damage – which according to @CarolineGlick would “risk U.S. resupply, which Israel cannot fight without” https://www.jns.org/biden-is-the-primary-obstacle-to-israeli-victory/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/27/23: @CarolineGlick reports that three weeks prior, the Biden admin “began demanding that Israel limit (or cancel entirely) its pre-ground battle aerial bombings. Consequently, in the week that preceded this week’s ‘humanitarian pause,’ the IDF’s battle losses were overwhelmingly the consequence of sniper fire from Hamas terrorists hiding in buildings that the air force did not destroy before the battles, due to U.S. pressure” https://www.jns.org/biden-is-the-primary-obstacle-to-israeli-victory/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/28/23: Pres. Biden tweets “Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace. To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.” @TabletMag reports: The Biden administration is sending clear signals that it wants the current cease-fire to mark the beginning of the end of Israel’s major combat operations and plans to place additional conditions on any renewed Israeli offensive. On Monday, an anonymous administration official told reporters that “the Israeli campaign when it moves to the south must be done in a way that is to a maximum extent not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons” and “conducted in a way that is maximally de-conflicted with humanitarian facilities.” Also on Monday evening, Biden reiterated his support for a two-state solution on X, while Senate Democrats met to discuss proposals to condition U.S. aid to Israel on Israel’s observance of international law (as The Wall Street Journal points out, Washington can already withhold aid on human-rights grounds, so the measure would amount to a specific rebuke to Israel’s conduct of the war.) https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/what-happened-today-771
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
U.S. officials emphasize that “As Israel defends itself from terrorism, they have the obligation to do everything possible to prevent any civilian casualties and distinguish between terrorists and civilians;” also “We don’t support southern operations unless or until the Israelis can show that they have accounted for all the internally displaced people of Gaza;” said campaign “must be done in a way that is to a maximum extent not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons. It cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north replicated in the south” https://jewishinsider.com/2023/11/white-house-reiterates-bidens-support-for-israels-war-against-hamas-amid-confusion-over-tweet/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Kickoff%20November%2029%202023&utm_content=Daily%20Kickoff%20November%2029%202023+CID_48831ae9ed3f4722a37ec6bef33bc702&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor%20JI&utm_term=Read%20more%20here
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/30/23: Sec. Blinken tells PM Netanyahu Biden admin will announce series of visa bans against Israelis in Judea and Samaria who allegedly attacked Palestinians. It will introduce no such measures against Palestinian Arab terrorists https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/us-tells-israel-it-will-announce-visa-ban-on-violent-settlers-in-coming-weeks-officials/ That same day, reports leak that in meeting with Israel’s war cabinet, Sec. Blinken told Israeli leaders that “You can’t operate in southern Gaza in the way you did in the north,” and that in response to Defense Minister Gallant’s comment that all of Israel “is united behind the goal of dismantling Hamas, even if it takes months,” quote “I don’t think you have the credit for that” https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/blinken-said-to-tell-israel-to-change-strategy-for-southern-gaza-suggest-it-wont-have-months-to-win-war/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 12/1/23: “Temporary pause” ends https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/the-truce-broke-down-over-the-details-of-further-hostage-and-prisoner-exchanges-israeli-officials-say.html#:~:text=But%20the%20two%20Israeli%20officials,the%20sensitivity%20of%20the%20discussions
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/2/23: Sec. Austin delivers speech noting “I have personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, and to shun irresponsible rhetoric, and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank,” and warning that Israel could suffer “strategic defeat” otherwise https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-02/defense-secretary-austin-warns-of-risk-for-israel-over-civilian-deaths-in-gaza?embedded-checkout=true
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 12/4/23: Politico reports that Biden admin officials have since mid-October been planning post-war scenario envisioning a “revitalized” PA in charge of Gaza. This represents an attempt to box PM Netanyahu, who resists telegraphing post-war plans https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/04/biden-gaza-israel-hamas-war-00130000#:~:text=Key%20parts%20of%20the%20plan,advising%20Palestinian%20security%20forces%2C%20the
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/5/23: Sec. Blinken announces visa restrictions on Jews targeting those “involved in or meaningfully contribution to actions that undermine peace, security, and stability” in Judea and Samaria https://x.com/SecBlinken/status/1732093745380659342?s=20 That same day, report drops indicating U.S. wishes for Israeli invasion to be over by the first week of January https://x.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1732055439607582817?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 12/6/23: Report indicates WH seeking to broker deal between Israel and Lebanon that according to senior Israeli officials aims to “prevent[] Israel and the IDF from engaging in a military campaign along the northern border” https://x.com/Nadav_Eyal/status/1732458034448720281?s=20; https://x.com/bhweingarten/status/1732468165068603417?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Read @AcrossTheBay on the maritime deal that the U.S. apparently sees as the model for the next Hezbollah-Israel pact. To what extent is Biden forcing this on Bibi? https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/in-lebanon-israel-america-opposite-sides
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/7/23: Report suggests Biden admin is going around Israel to work with PA on a plan to run Gaza post-war – with PA calling for Hamas to join it in coalition government https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-08/palestinian-authority-working-with-us-on-postwar-plan-for-gaza?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email That same day Sec. Blinken criticizes Israel for its southern Gaza offensive, noting there is a “gap…[between] the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground” https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blinken-says-gap-remains-between-israels-intent-protect-civilians-results-2023-12-07/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20Dec%207%20(Reuters),been%20happening%20on%20the%20ground. A report also circulates suggesting U.S. directed Israel not to respond to Houthi attacks despite being under de facto blockade https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-said-to-tell-israel-it-will-handle-houthi-attacks-but-is-eschewing-strikes-for-now/; https://www.jns.org/standing-up-to-the-american-colossus/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/10/23: @carolineglick reports that Hochstein reportedly seeking to broker Israel-Lebanon plan whereby Israel would withdraw from strategically significant sovereign territory, with Hezbollah proclaiming it will abide by the UNSC Resolution it has been violating – thereby imperiling Israel https://www.jns.org/israels-survival-clashes-with-americas-lebanon-delusions/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/12/23: At a fundraiser with prominent Jewish Democrats, Pres. Biden suggests he lectured PM Netanyahu, with respect to the Israel-Hamas War, “Don’t make the same mistakes we made [after] 9/11. There was no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan [after] 9/11,” falsely claiming Israel had been engaging in “indiscriminate bombing,” and also indicating that “I think he [Netanyahu] has to change.” Biden warns Israel is “starting to lose…support” internationally. He also criticizes conservative national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/biden-netanyahu-needs-to-change-coalition-israel-is-starting-to-lose-support-around-world/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/13/23: Axios reports Biden admin delays sale of rifles to Israel “over concerns about attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank” – again a canard used to smear and slander Israeli opposition to desired two-state plan https://www.axios.com/2023/12/13/us-israel-rifle-sale-delay-west-bank-violence
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/14/23: Axios reports NSA Sullivan told PM Netanyahu et al. that Israel needs to “transition to the next lower intensity phase [of the war] in a matter of weeks, not months,” contrary to what Israeli officials were saying they needed in terms of time https://www.axios.com/2023/12/14/jake-sullivan-netanyahu-israel-meeting; https://jewishinsider.com/2023/12/israel-united-states-jake-sullivan-benjamin-netanyahu-hamas/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Kickoff%20December%2015%202023&utm_content=Daily%20Kickoff%20December%2015%202023+CID_7e184a663d92ff56e78d0bbbdd7f95eb&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor%20JI&utm_term=Jewish%20Insider%20Washington%20correspondent%20Gabby%20Deutch%20reports That same day Politico reports U.S. has gathered intelligence that could allow it to make assessments about whether Israel is abiding by the laws of war https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/14/israel-conduct-war-intel-tactic-00131868
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/15/23: Times of Israel reports various Israeli leaders have urged the Biden admin to stop talking about a “two-state solution” – pleas that will go ignored https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-urging-us-not-to-talk-publicly-about-two-state-solution-officials/ NSA Sullivan tells reporters while in Tel Aviv that the Hezbollah “threat can be dealt with through diplomacy,” undermining potential Israeli military action https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-778166 That same day, reports emerge suggesting U.S. wishes to ensure not only humanitarian aid but commercial goods be allowed into Gaza strip https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/with-kerem-shalom-to-reopen-us-sets-sites-on-re-entry-of-commercial-goods-into-gaza-officials-tell-toi/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/16/23: Reports indicate U.S. military leaders press Israel to limit its war effort to “prevent a wider regional war,” the indication being that Israel must cease intense operations – necessitated by the attack perpetrated by Iran proxy Hamas – to get Iran’s proxies to stop attacking https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-major-combat-operations-austin-b201d682a10735c0bc6847359edeca8b
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 12/22/23: U.S. abstains in the face of UNSC resolution calling “for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities” https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-security-council-acts-boost-aid-gaza-after-us-abstains-2023-12-22/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 12/28/23: Reports emerge suggesting Biden admin is unhappy with and pressing Israel to release tax revenue it is withholding from the PA https://www.axios.com/2023/12/28/biden-netanyahu-call-palestinian-authority-tax-revenue
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/2/24: State Dept. calls “inflammatory and irresponsible” comments of Israeli national security minister Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for Palestinians to voluntarily leave Gaza and pressing for Israelis to return https://archive.ph/r7JjL#the-state-department-rebukes-israeli-ministers-pushing-for-gazans-to-leave-the-enclave That same day, Israel allegedly assassinates Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon, prompting Biden administration officials to claim, per @rich_goldberg, they had advised against the attack https://x.com/rich_goldberg/status/1742271226339377239?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/8/24: President Biden says, in the face of protestors, “I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza. And using all that I can to do that” https://x.com/karol/status/1744426829300068444?s=20 Jake Tapper tweets that a Biden admin official indicates PM Netanyahu will have to choose between Israeli conservatives, and Biden and the U.S. https://x.com/jaketapper/status/1744397998904275048?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/9/24: In remarks in Tel Aviv, Sec. Blinken holds Israel responsible for the “acute food insecurity” of Gazans, demanding “Israel needs to do everything it can to remove any obstacles from crossings to other parts of Gaza. Improving deconfliction procedures to ensure that the aid can move safely and securely is a critical part of that” – this regarding aid distributed primarily by a captured entity of Hamas, UNRWA. Despite lamenting how “the daily toll on civilians in Gaza…is far too high,” Blinken says “the United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza” https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-press-availability-45/#:~:text=And%20then%20once%20they're,a%20critical%20part%20of%20that. @CarolineGlick’s analysis suggests Biden admin officials are working behind the scenes to topple PM Netanyahu with a left-wing Israeli alternative that will make massive land concessions in connection with establishment of a Palestinian state https://www.jns.org/victory-is-more-important-than-us-support/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/10/24: Following meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas – currently serving in the 20th year of a four-year term – Sec. Blinken declares Abbas “committed” to reforming the PA https://www.timesofisrael.com/blinken-seeks-palestinian-reform-as-he-tries-to-rally-region-behind-postwar-vision/ As WSJ reports, this comes amid recent news the PA would extend its “pay for slay” compensation to families of Hamas terrorists killed after Oct. 7 https://archive.ph/Ls6sJ
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/14/24: “The president’s patience is running out” with the continuing Israeli war on Hamas, a U.S. official leaks to Axios. Also leaked, Sec. Blinken’s view that Israel’s plan for post-war Gaza was “pie in the sky.” Notably, Blinken met with both war cabinet minister Gantz, opposition leader Lapid, and Defense Minister Gallant, all cast as potential PM Netanyahu successors in the press https://www.axios.com/2024/01/14/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-tensions NSA Sullivan says on “Face the Nation” that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-14-2024-3af5b75f744b92c5517b287baf20b55b
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/17/24: NBC News reports of growing rupture between Biden admin and PM Netanyahu, with U.S. officials leaking that Netanyahu “will not be there forever” – again part of a whisper campaign against him suggesting a desire to see him toppled. “The officials said the Biden administration is trying to lay the groundwork with other Israeli and civil society leaders in anticipation of an eventual post-Netanyahu government. In an attempt to work around Netanyahu, Blinken also met individually with members of his war Cabinet and other Israeli leaders, including opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, officials said.” Blinken also conveys, per NBC, that there is “no military solution” to Hamas https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/frustrations-biden-israeli-pm-netanyahu-mount-rcna134263 That same day in conversation with NYT admin mouthpiece Thomas Friedman, Blinken puts onus on Israel to make peace, noting “Arab countries and Muslim countries…are prepared to have a relationship with Israel in terms of its integration, its normalization, its security” in exchange for a Palestinian state. “When in previous times we came close to…getting a Palestinian state…the view then…was that Arab leaders, Palestinian leaders, had not done enough to prepare their own people for this profound change. I think a challenge now, a question now: Is Israeli society prepared to engage on these questions?” https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-conversation-with-thomas-friedman/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/19/24: After several weeks of reported silence, President Biden and PM Netanyahu speak, during which Biden presses Netanyahu to agree to the creation of a Palestinian state post-war. John Kirby tsk-tsks Netanyahu for saying “I shall not compromise on full Israeli security control of the entire area west of Jordan River,” responding “It’s not a phrase that we recommend using because of that [‘from the river to the sea’] context” https://archive.ph/rneca
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/21/24: WSJ reports on U.S.-Egypt-Qatar plan to essentially force Israel to end the war with an Israeli loss by leveraging a hostage-for-terrorist exchange during a freeze that would ultimately lead to the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the ending of surveillance, flooding of Gaza with aid, followed by “talks for a permanent cease-fire, normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the relaunching of a process to create a Palestinian state.” In such a scenario, Hamas would not be destroyed, and hundreds if not thousands of freed jihadists could be re-deployed from a newly established Palestinian terror state. These U.S.-supported talks persist to this day https://archive.ph/2sxO2
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 1/22/24: Politico telegraphs Biden admin will seek to pressure Israel to de-intensify/halt war to get Houthis to stand down https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/01/22/how-to-stop-the-houthis-00137030
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/26/24: State Dept. announces “temporary pause” on UNRWA funding after organization is found to be brimming with Hamas members and colluders. But the freeze only comes after 99.8% of the $121M in UNRWA funding earmarked has already been delivered https://archive.ph/5XSul Separately, with Israeli protestors preventing aid at Kerem Shalom border crossing from entering the Gaza strip until hostages are freed, White House reportedly pressures Israel to ensure aid moves unabated https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-third-day-running-protesters-block-gaza-aid-at-kerem-shalom-crossing/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/28/24: NBC News reports Biden admin “is discussing using weaponry sales to Israel as leverage to convince the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to heed long-standing U.S. calls to scale back its military assault in the Gaza Strip.” A Biden official leaks “There’s a lot more that needs to be done and they [Israel] need to be more careful about.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-administration-discussing-slowing-weaponry-deliveries-israel-pre-rcna136035 Shin Bet Director reports vast majority of humanitarian assistance goes to Hamas https://x.com/CarolineGlick/status/1751688519284584751?s=20; https://jewishinsider.com/2024/02/daily-kickoff-the-growing-u-s-israel-divide-over-gaza-aid/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/31/24: Axios reports State Dept. is reviewing options on “possible U.S. and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza” on heels of meeting between Sec. Blinken and Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer – a move that if done unilaterally would violate Oslo Accords https://www.axios.com/2024/01/31/palestine-statehood-biden-israel-gaza-war That same day, WSJ reports that U.S. is “pushing for a cease-fire deal that could stop the war in Gaza long enough to stall Israel’s military momentum and potentially set the stage for a more lasting truce,” beginning with a six-week cease-fire and hostage-for-terrorist exchange in which “Hamas has demanded the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners for each female Israeli soldier set free” https://archive.ph/O5Clz Comments from Hamas officials suggest they believe the U.S. is effectively on its side in negotiations https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/january-31-the-terms-of-israels-hostage Also that day, NYT’s Friedman previews a coming “Biden Doctrine” involving forcing a Palestinian state on Israel to gain the “global legitimacy, the NATO allies and the Arab and Muslim allies it needs” to “take on Iran in a more aggressive manner” https://archive.ph/oFphP
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/1/24: Biden issues executive order sanctioning, de-banking Jews living in their biblical homeland of Judea and Samaria should they challenge the White House’s desired “two-state solution” based on fraud claim of an uptick in “settler violence.” EO is meant to draw equivalence between vastly more lethal and pervasive Palestinian Arab jihadist threat and Israelis, undermine cause of Jews in Judea and Samaria who will most fervently oppose two-state plan and who are suffering disproportionate casualties fighting in war. “Exceptional” response, as PM Netanyahu terms it, applies not only to those detained by police but supportive NGOs and government officials. Leaks indicate Biden admin considered applying sanctions to ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. UNRWA officials colluding with or found to be members of Hamas, among other Palestinian Arabs not slapped with such sanctions https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1753069501472764293?s=20; https://x.com/EVKontorovich/status/1753406644011008097?s=20
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 2/2/24: Report indicates Biden admin is pressuring Israel not to recruit foreign workers for construction industry in bid to force Israel to re-open itself to Palestinian Arab workers https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/us-leaning-on-israel-to-drop-foreign-manpower-providers-keeping-pa-workers-option-open/2024/02/02/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/3/24: Israel Hayom reports Biden admin threatens to invoke Leahy Law – restricting funding of military aid to foreign units over purported human rights violations – in response to Israeli security counter-terrorism operations aimed at neutralizing pervasive jihadist threat in Judea and Samaria https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/02/03/934807/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 2/4/24: Politico reports Pres. Biden has called PM Netanyahu a “bad fucking guy,” though a spokesperson denies the claim https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/04/biden-third-party-peril-00139380
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/5/24: @CarolineGlick writes that “the IDF has been compelled to conserve its ammunition on the ground due to shortages in supplies, indicating that the United States is slow-walking its supply of key armaments to Israel.” Glick also reports on another visit from Hochstein to Israel as he pursues a purported diplomatic solution to the Hezbollah threat from the north – one that will see the jihadist group continue to menacingly threaten northern Israel while Israel is expected to cede sovereignty to strategic significant lands therein https://www.jns.org/360-degrees-of-hostility-the-biden-administration-and-israel/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/6/24: Left-wing Israeli outlet Haaretz reports that a new Biden admin policy aims to target Israeli “executives, investors and maybe even employees at companies producing offense cybersecurity technologies” by causing them “to lose their visas to the United States if the spyware their firms sell is misused and deployed against political activists, human rights defenders or journalists” in a bid to create leverage over Israel and PM Netanyahu to bend to the Biden admin’s favored war plans https://archive.ph/5XSul
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
@CarolineGlick 2/7/24: Sec. Blinken says “Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7th. The hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others” https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-press-availability-46/#:~:text=Israelis%20were%20dehumanized%20in%20the,a%20license%20to%20dehumanize%20others
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/8/24: Biden issues national security memorandum conditioning military aid broadly on recipients providing “credible and reliable written assurances” they are acting in “compliance with international humanitarian law” – targeting Israel, which will have to produce such assurances within 45 days, the due date coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Purim https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1755769385698857227?s=20; https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/02/08/national-security-memorandum-on-safeguards-and-accountability-with-respect-to-transferred-defense-articles-and-defense-services/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
That same day reports circulate suggesting State Dept. has issued “strident warnings” against a Rafah offensive, with U.S. State Dept. deputy spokesman Vedant Patel challenging Israel’s plans by noting admin had “yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation” and that “To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in a[] [densely populated] area” would be a “disaster.” The Rafah offensive is imperative to crippling Hamas https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ramps-up-strikes-on-rafah-as-us-warns-major-offensive-would-be-disaster/ NYT reports, in leak undermining war effort, that U.S. intel officials had told Congress Israel “was not close to eliminating” Hamas, and that officials “raised doubts about whether the destruction or elimination of Hamas is a realistic objective” https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/09/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news#us-intelligence-officials-tell-congress-that-israel-is-not-close-to-eliminating-hamas @Eluttwak details – in piece in @tabletmag countering that on the contrary Israel is winning the war going away – how it has succeeded despite U.S. demands hampering Israel’s ability to expedite the war in Gaza, particularly in limiting actions of the Israeli air force https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-winning-gaza
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/9/24: President Biden tells reporters “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top” https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/biden-calls-israels-response-in-gaza-to-hamas-october-7-attack-over-the-top/ NYT reports that in closed-door meeting with Arab American leaders in Michigan, Deputy NSA Finer undermines Netanyahu-led government in asking, “Will Israel be willing to do the hard thing that’s going to be required of them, which is meaningful steps for the Palestinians on the question of two states? I don’t know if the answer to that is yes. I do not have any confidence in this current government of Israel.” He also expresses regret for not rebuking Israeli officials over their fiery rhetoric regarding Hamas https://archive.ph/AfJjJ#selection-4683.127-4683.394
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/11/24: WaPo reports “Biden’s patience is wearing thin over how Israel has conducted its military campaign” in article detailing that the president “and his top aides are closer to a breach with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than at any time since the Gaza War began” https://archive.is/lRe9b#selection-985.4-985.88 In call, Biden reportedly directs Netanyahu to find a way to “close the gaps with Hamas” in ceasefire negotiations https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/february-12-2024-a-black-weekend?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=680918&post_id=141615528&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=dqwj3&utm_medium=email U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield tells NPR that under current conditions an Israel military operation “cannot proceed” in Rafah
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/12/24: President Biden declares U.S. is pushing for a six-week pause in Israel-Hamas war with the intent to extend towards a longer ceasefire https://archive.ph/iR4MB Biden also says “A major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than 1 million people sheltering there” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/12/foreign-secretaries-and-diplomats-try-to-persuade-netanyahu-to-call-off-rafah-offensive During remarks with the King of Jordan – who bashed Israel without any response from the president – Biden quotes Hamas-sourced casualty figures, ones he himself had called unreliable months prior only to recant in the face of Muslim activists. NSC’s Kirby says “We have consistently conveyed our concerns to our Israeli counterparts, including the prime minister…about moving forward in Rafah in a major way without due consideration of civilians,” adding “there’s been too many [civilian casualties]” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240213-us-conveyed-concerns-to-israel-about-moving-forward-in-rafah-white-house/ NBC News reports that Biden has in recent weeks been disparaging PM Netanyahu, referring to him as an “asshole” as he “has been venting his frustration in recent private conversations…over his inability to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in the Gaza Strip…nam[ing] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the primary obstacle” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/biden-disparages-netanyahu-private-hasnt-changed-us-policy-israel-rcna138282 That same day, in response to an Israeli hostage rescue, NSC’s Kirby says that while “pleased” about the operation, of potential associated Palestinian deaths “the proper number of civilian casualties is zero” and “We certainly mourn any loss of innocent life as the result of those operations” https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-786613?utm_source=jpost.app.apple&utm_medium=share
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/13/24: Word leaks that contrary to NSC Kirby remarks from one month prior, the Biden admin has “been assessing possible international law violations by Israel for months…and…[is] continuing to do so” https://sg.news.yahoo.com/biden-administration-investigating-israels-possible-155307310.html In a perhaps unprecedented de facto ask, the U.S. says “Any credible plan” for Rafah invasion must account for “physical movement, safe movement, as well as proper sustenance for them – food, water, medicine, access to healthcare” of civilians there https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/kirby-says-us-has-not-seen-israels-plan-for-rafah-praises-idf-efforts-to-protect-civilians/#:~:text=Speaking%20at%20a%20White%20House,of%20an%20operation%20in%20Rafah. https://x.com/Jewtastic/status/1757479681132216527?s=20 Axios reports Pres. Biden says in any new hostage deal, Israel may have to release a greater multiple of Palestinian jihadists for hostages than in the initial ceasefire/hostage trade https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1757485702432817209?s=20 Biden officials reportedly express outrage for Israel holding grain from being delivered to Gaza by way of Hamas-captured UNRWA https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/385148
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/14/24: WaPo reports Biden admin is “rushing to complete a detailed, comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and Palestinians, including a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” which would include “the withdrawal of many, if not all, settler communities on the West Bank; [and] a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.” Report asserts that “under consideration [is] early U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state” https://archive.ph/Kj7xN Axios reports Sec. Austin discusses with his counterpart Defense Minister Gallant “the importance of safeguarding civilians and ensuring the movement of and access to humanitarian assistance before any operations against Hamas in Rafah” WSJ also reports U.S. is probing Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon https://archive.ph/rJ1Un While Israelis and Judea and Samaria are threatened with sanctions, President Biden issues a waiver for deportable Palestinians in the U.S., shielding them from deportation for 18 months https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/02/14/memorandum-on-the-deferred-enforced-departure-for-certain-palestinians/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/15/24: WSJ reports that: “The U.S. has communicated that it wouldn’t—under any circumstances—support a plan for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, and that it would prefer to see targeted operations, U.S. officials said. The Biden administration has asked the Israeli military to produce a ‘credible plan’ that included both a military and humanitarian component if it decides to disregard Washington’s advice and invade the city, U.S. officials said.” https://archive.ph/pSocs#selection-2275.0-2279.397 In a separate report, a U.S. official says that “in recent days, the Biden administration has handed Israel a list of demands that must be met before any operation in Rafah” https://www.jns.org/in-a-rafah-op-israels-most-pressing-concern-isnt-the-us-but-egypt/?_se=YWdsaW5jaGVyQG5peG9ucGVhYm9keS5jb20%3D&utm_campaign=Morning+Syndicate+Thursday+02152024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=brevo Claiming “There’s no indication Biden” will take any such measures, Politico lays out a series of punitive actions it might take to the extent Israel undertakes a Rafah offensive the administration disapproves of https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/02/15/bidens-options-to-prevent-catastrophic-rafah-invasion-00141485 A readout of a call between Biden and Netanyahu released that evening notes Biden “reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians in Rafah.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/15/readout-of-president-bidens-call-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel-12/ As @TabletMag reports, halting the Rafah operation and thereby throwing Hamas a lifeline will lead to preserving its: leadership and at least some of the terror group’s organizational and military strength and to incorporate this "deradicalized" remnant into the government of a Palestinian state, where it can reconstitute itself with international aid, constantly exert pressure on Fatah to take more radically anti-Israel stances, and serve as a permanent Iranian foothold on Israel’s eastern border, in addition to the footholds Iran already has on Israel’s northern and southwestern borders. But even if the PA doesn’t incorporate Hamas, as the PA prime minister says he hopes to do, Israel would still have problems. As The Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday: An investigation by Palestinian Media Watch, the nonprofit watchdog based in Jerusalem, documented at least 55 attacks by PA security forces against Israeli soldiers or civilians since 2020, including four in the past month alone. In each case, the PA or its ruling Fatah party has eulogized the attacker as one of their own "soldiers." WSJ separately reports Biden admin had considered punitive action the month prior “includ[ing] a reversal of two Trump-era policies: one that allows products made in Jewish settlements in the Israel-occupied West Bank to be labeled as being ‘Made in Israel,’ and another that upended longstanding U.S. policy that the West Bank settlements violate international law” https://archive.is/wBbUA#selection-2765.45-2765.325
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
So you're telling me that the great-aunt of the youngest American hostage -- and first American -- to be released by Hamas is a buyer of Hunter Biden's art, who was then appointed by Joe Biden to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad?
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The swap of hostages for jihadists is likely to prove disastrous for Israel. What this little girl endured and will endure for the rest of her life is unthinkable -- as is the case for all the hostages and their families. That the Bidens' corruption makes this fact pattern at all salient is nauseating and disgusting.
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
*Addendum to initial post. The timeline is not clear as to when Ms. Naftali bought Hunter Biden's art vs. when she was appointed by Joe Biden to the relevant commission. Hunter's former biz associate Eric Schwerin was tabbed for that commission previously by President Obama
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
H/T @BiancaDLGarza who raised this connection during today's episode of "Newsline"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
EXCLUSIVE: Docs Shed New Light on Feds' Collusion with Private Actors to Police Speech on Social Media @RCInvestigates we report on records showing the thousands of tweets and Facebook posts on topics from mail-in voting to aberrant election results that DHS' partner, the Election Integrity Partnership, flagged to platforms for censorship -- much of which they would suppress https://realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The evidence shows EIP – sometimes alongside DHS sub-agency CISA – pressuring platforms to target speech that included statements by then-President Trump; opinions about election integrity rooted in government records and even think-tank white papers; and speculative tweets from statesmen and everyday citizens alike. We detail a dozen of those instances, with reaction from the targeted including @MZHemingway @JMichaelWaller @RonColeman @ChuckDeVore https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/how_the_federal-private_speech_police_operated_in_election_2020_with_a_dominant_focus_on_the_right_990725.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
.@RCInvestigates' reporting, drawing on sources including Missouri v. Biden, illustrates how EIP coordinated with government officials; targeted right-leaning domestic speech from politicians, journalists, and everyday Americans; and served as an active censorship advocate rather than a mere misinformation and disinformation research vehicle. “One look at these documents shows the government and these organizations working hand-in-glove to suppress the speech of Americans,” said Rep. @RepDanBishop, Chairman of the @HomelandGOP oversight subcommittee that procured the documents from Stanford. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
How the Election Integrity Partnership Emerged Established in Nov. 2018 to “elevate the mission” of an existing DHS office, sub-agency CISA’s mandate is to protect critical infrastructure. This includes election infrastructure like polling stations and voting machines, a responsibility the departing Obama administration assigned to CISA’s predecessor after claims of Russian meddling in the 2016 contest. Before the 2020 election, CISA widened its mandate to include combatting “election infrastructure disinformation,” encompassing online speech about election administration and results – without regard to whether the speaker was foreign or domestic. But CISA hit a snag. There was a “gap” in the government’s authority to clamp down on what it considered misinformation and disinformation – a gap identified by DHS officials and interns on loan to the agency from the Stanford Internet Observatory. Given what SIO research manager Renee DiResta described as the “unclear legal authorities” and “very real First Amendment questions” regarding this gap, the parties hatched a plan to form a public-private partnership that would provide DHS with an avenue to surreptitiously censor speech. It was called the Election Integrity Partnership. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
What the Election Integrity Partnership Did The Stanford Internet Observatory launched the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) months before the 2020 election, alongside other, often government-linked heavy hitters in what advocates call social media misinformation and disinformation analysis, including the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public; the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab; and social media analytics firm Graphika. The Stanford observatory convened EIP as “a model for whole-of-society collaboration” aimed at “defending the 2020 election against voting-related mis- and disinformation.” The partnership did so in two primary ways, the records show. First, EIP lobbied social media companies, with some success, to adopt more stringent moderation policies around “content intended to suppress voting, reduce participation, confuse voters as to election processes, or delegitimize election results without evidence.” Second, EIP surveilled hundreds of millions of social media posts for content that might violate the platforms’ moderation policies. In addition to identifying this content internally, EIP also collected content forwarded to it by external “stakeholders,” including government offices and civil society groups. EIP then flagged this mass of content to the platforms for potential suppression. It coordinated this effort through a digital "ticketing" system. During the 2020 election cycle, EIP generated 639 tickets, covering 4,784 unique URLs – content shared millions of times – disproportionately related to the “delegitimization” of election results. Platforms like Twitter, Google, and Facebook responded to 75% or more of the tickets in which they were tagged. These platforms “labeled, removed, or soft blocked” 35% of the URLs shared via EIP. For comparison, platforms reportedly remove content flagged by the FBI at a 50% rate. EIP was very public about its efforts, but never released the individual tickets, garnering requests for them from @HomelandGOP and @JudiciaryGOP in connection with their investigations into alleged government-driven censorship. Many of those tickets were produced, and @RCInvestigates has analyzed them. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
What the Public-Private Partnership Did @RCInvestigates' analysis of the raw ticket data, in conjunction with related reports and court filings, indicates that: • About 10% of the tickets bear markings of involvement from federal officials, including at CISA, the FBI, and/or the State Department’s Global Engagement Center through references to government email addresses, offices, or officials. CISA internally kept tabs on the progress of at least 11 EIP tickets, according to discovery material it produced in Missouri v. Biden. • The number of government-involved tickets grows to more than 25% when one cross-references the EIP data with the lawsuit discovery material. Nearly a quarter of the 400 EIP tickets originated with misinformation reports from the CISA-funded EI-ISAC. Federal officials directly forwarded dozens of these same reports to social media companies for potential moderation. • Nearly all tickets deal with domestic speech. This is consistent with EIP’s 2020 report noting that less than 1% of tickets pertained to foreign interference. • The word “recommend” or some derivative thereof appears over 100 times in ticket comments, suggesting EIP was not a passive research effort but one aimed at spurring social media companies to censor. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
What the Individual Tickets Show A review of individual tickets shows EIP targeting sometimes clear falsehoods about the 2020 election. But it also demonstrates among other things that EIP targeted elected officials; called for social media platforms to take action on content while CISA was doing the same; and flagged a raft of speculative and satirical posts – even posts making reference to U.S. government documents – subjectively, at the whims of analysts https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Targeting of President Trump by CISA, an Executive Agency One ticket originated by CISA’s Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) concerns a tweet from then-President Trump indicating “most” states permit one to change one’s original vote after engaging in early voting, which EIP categorized as potential “Procedural Interference.” EIP analysts point to fact-checks from, among other sources, Buzzfeed and ABC News challenging the president’s claim. Following two redacted comments on the ticket, an unnamed commenter writes, “Twitter received and is reviewing.” A subsequent comment reads: “We heard back from Twitter through CISA with this response: Our team concluded that the Tweet was not in violation of our Civic Integrity Policy.” CISA-produced documentation shows the sub-agency’s chief counter-MDM (mis-, dis-, and malinformation) officer, Brian Scully, had also reported the tweet to Twitter, which responded to him directly about it. Therefore, EIP and its stakeholder, an executive agency, both forwarded the chief executive’s speech to a social media platform for potential censorship. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/how_the_federal-private_speech_police_operated_in_election_2020_with_a_dominant_focus_on_the_right_990725.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Making Explicit EIP is a Proxy for Feds to Avoid Legal Issues Another ticket originated by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center highlights an Instagram post showing a video depicting a poll worker purportedly caught modifying ballots. The GEC submitter writes: I came across this post while looking for potential foreign narratives on Instagram … While the video does not claim to be of any state in particular, I believe the original video was taken in Montgomery County, MD per an article describing the misinformation campaign. However, the video is apparently circulating without a state label in key swing states. As this is outside of my lane due to Privacy Act restrictions, I will leave further investigation to the EIP and Instagram teams. [Emphasis mine]
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Targeting Conservative Sources for Raising Questions About the 2020 Election Another ticket concerns social media posts sharing an article from @FDRLST, where I am a senior contributor, titled “America Won’t Trust Elections Until The Voter Fraud Is Investigated.” According to the ticket, the article “Misconstrues Disinformation as Evidence.” One tagged post comes from Federalist Editor-in-Chief @MZHemingway. A stakeholder writes to Facebook and Twitter in connection with the ticket that “this seems to be the greatest hits from the past 3 days wrapped up in one article. The article links to several of the gateway pundit links which have received action since Tuesday.” Twitter indicates it received and was reviewing the tweet, though it appears not to have taken action on it. @RCInvestigates asked Hemingway for her comment on the flagging of her tweet and publication’s work. She replied: This unconscionable censorship of The Federalist and its reporters is sadly unsurprising. The censorship-industrial complex in this country clearly views free speech as its enemy and will do anything to shut it down, including spreading lies and using intimidation to coerce private companies to censor factual, legal speech on behalf of the regime. Hemingway concluded with a warning: “The censorship-industrial complex better buckle up, because the days of conservatives taking this lying down are over.”
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Discounting Election Integrity Skepticism, Even When Based on U.S. Government Documents Another ticket includes a tweet from senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, @JMichaelWaller. In it, he quotes testimony from a State Department official in 2004 highlighting indicators of Ukrainian electoral fraud, including “‘illegal use of absentee ballots,’ ‘opposition observers ejected,’ ‘North Korean style turnout in the East’ (‘nearly 96 percent’), ‘mobile ballot box fraud,’ etc.” – the implication being that the 2020 U.S. election was similarly flawed. Waller thanked Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat, in the tweet for drawing his attention to the testimony. An EIP commenter writes to Twitter: “We believe that this content should be reviewed and labeled under Twitter’s Civil Integrity policy. Old State Department documents (originally amplified by Andrii Telizhenko, a U.S.-flagged Russian agent) are being used to infer that the 2020 election was ‘rigged.’ These inferences are inflammatory and unsubstantiated.” Twitter received the comment, though it is not clear if it took action. RCI asked Waller what he made of the flagging of his tweet. Noting that “this tracks with what appeared to be shadow banning of my Twitter account,” Waller continued: It now appears that it’s “inflammatory and unsubstantiated” to cite the State Department’s own standards for foreign elections as a benchmark for determining the integrity of our own. If the U.S. just applied the State Department’s own foreign election integrity standards to American elections, there would be little electoral fraud in our country. Somehow, CISA thinks this is a subversive idea and must be censored. When @RCInvestigates noted that there was no indication that CISA personnel observed or commented on his tweet, Waller replied, “I draw no distinction between EIP and CISA. One operates as a front for the other.” Waller also found the scrutiny of his tweet over the reference to Telizhenko telling. He noted that Telizhenko, whom he considers a friend: … blew the whistle on Burisma and Hunter Biden, and … revealed the corrupt Hillary Clinton network regarding Ukraine. In the last days of the Trump administration, Treasury officials sanctioning real Russian agents falsely and maliciously included Telizhenko as one of them, sent the sanctions documents to Secretary of State Pompeo’s office for a hurried signature, and presto! Burisma’s chief accuser has his life destroyed as a wrongly accused, and permanently sanctioned, Russian agent. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/how_the_federal-private_speech_police_operated_in_election_2020_with_a_dominant_focus_on_the_right_990725.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Attempting To Suppress Speculative Tweets About Mail-In Ballot Handling Another ticket flags many social media posts concerning claims that shortly after the 2020 election, Philadelphia had destroyed all ballot envelopes. One flagged tweet came from @RonColeman, who noted that this claimed destruction “makes it hard to prove Biden got any legitimate mail in votes at all.” Asked for comment about this flagging, Coleman, a New Jersey-based conservative lawyer and prominent First Amendment advocate, pointed @RCInvestigates to a subsequent reply to his original tweet, posted hours later that day, in which he clarified that: It increasingly looks like this [the destruction of ballots] didn't happen. But it is the response I have given to people who ask me, well what if they just destroy all the ballots - cover up the crime? That don’t work here. Coleman added: “Amazing how that works. I corrected the record without any censorship because of my own regard for the truth and my reputation.” “In contrast,” Coleman said, EIP “operate[s] in the shadows” and is “unaccountable.” “Why didn’t they confront me instead of ‘telling on me’?” he asked rhetorically. Coleman concluded: “Because they are shitty little punks.” https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/how_the_federal-private_speech_police_operated_in_election_2020_with_a_dominant_focus_on_the_right_990725.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Political Stakeholders Target Opponents Another ticket originated by the @DNC concerns a post from the conservative @TPPF on mail-in voting linking to a report from the think-tank. An EIP analyst writes: “At this time, there is limited traction on the TPPF’s report on Facebook and Twitter. Further, the FB [Facebook] post’s text is not necessarily false, but the link to the webpage does contain false/misleading information. We are moving this report to ‘ongoing monitoring’ for now due to the limited traction on it, but recommend keeping an eye on TPPF for other misleading or false reports." When notified of this flagging effort, @ChuckDeVore, an executive at TPPF who authored the think-tank report, told RCI he was “very disappointed that an academic quality white paper on the efficacy of voting by mail would be flagged.” The former California state assemblyman continued: Social media today is the equivalent of the public square, as well as the local newspaper at the time of the founding of our Republic, and to have non-governmental organizations with close ties to the federal government working to shut down the free exchange of information about topics of vital interest to the public is an extremely dangerous development for our representative democracy. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/how_the_federal-private_speech_police_operated_in_election_2020_with_a_dominant_focus_on_the_right_990725.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The district court that heard Missouri v. Biden described CISA and the EIP as “completely intertwined.” Events after the 2020 election further substantiate that claim. Yet despite the raft of ties between CISA and the EIP, in a March 2023 statement, @stanfordio partner, the @uwcip, challenged the idea EIP censored as a government cutout. It wrote: “CISA did not found, fund, or otherwise control the EIP. CISA did not send content to the EIP to analyze, and the EIP did not flag content to social media platforms on behalf of CISA.” @HomelandGOP Chair @RepMarkGreen countered, in a statement to @RCInvestigates, that the ticket records present "clear evidence that government employees helped the Election Integrity Partnership … work with social media companies to censor free speech in the name of combating ‘misinformation.'" An aide to the committee added that “Even if SIO and their partners didn’t literally take down a tweet or post, they were a foundational part of the process that led to those takedowns.” “It is a distinction without a difference.” https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
The courts may well weigh in on the dispute of whether the government ought to be forbidden from working with putatively private partners to surveil and flag for suppression speech on social media the government disfavors. On July 4, Louisiana District Judge Terry A. Doughty found in Missouri v. Biden that the Biden White House, and agencies such as CISA, the FBI, and CDC, had likely violated Americans’ First Amendment rights by proxy through cajoling, coercing, and colluding with social media platforms to censor protected speech on matters from election integrity to COVID-19. He sought to freeze the alleged government-led censorship during the pendency of the case by issuing a ten-plank preliminary injunction. The injunction prohibited the feds not only from working with platforms to quell protected speech, but also colluding with entities specifically including the SIO and EIP to accomplish the same. Federal authorities challenged the ruling – arguing that the preliminary injunction violated the government’s own right to speech – sending the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court upheld the injunction, but in modified form, jettisoning the SIO- and EIP-related provision. Still unsatisfied, the U.S. government appealed to the Supreme Court. On Oct. 20, it granted certiorari in the case now dubbed Murthy v. Missouri. The high court will assess whether the government did in fact convert social media companies into First Amendment-violating speech police, and whether the injunctions’ “terms and breadth” are proper. In an Oct. 10 Supreme Court filing, the plaintiffs requested that if the court granted certiorari, that it rule on whether the 5th Circuit erred when it vacated the injunction forbidding the government from partnering with entities like SIO and EIP to suppress speech. In granting certiorari, the court did not indicate it would take up this question. Asked whether the plaintiffs would continue to press it, Amber Hargroder, Communications Officer at the Louisiana Department of Justice told RCI: “We intend to raise all relevant arguments and considerations to the Supreme Court in pushing back against federal censorship.” Irrespective of what happens in the courts and Congress, the Election Integrity Partnership could cease its efforts in 2024. Time will tell. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/11/06/documents_shed_new_light_on_feds_collusion_with_private_actors_to_police_speech_on_social_media_990672.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Read this sworn affidavit from GOP poll challenger, and former Assistant AG for Michigan, Zachary Larsen, on the alleged fraud he observed in Detroit. This is Third World stuff, and every American should be outraged if these allegations are true https://greatlakesjc.org/wp-content/uploads/Complaint-Costantino-FINAL-With-Exhibits.pdf?x44644#page=26…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
How can AG Merrick Garland tab USA David Weiss be a special counsel, while Weiss retains his position as USA? The law says: "The Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States Government."
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Per new Flynn document dump, one wonders, who was "CROSSFIRE TYPHOON?"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
THREAD: If you're watching @TuckerCarlson and unfamiliar w the Biden administration's first of its kind National Strategy on Countering Domestic Terrorism and where it fits in the admin's broader War on Wrongthink, I've been covering this vital, disturbing topic for the last year
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/13/21: If you accede to the view that anything that challenges the prevailing progressive orthodoxy constitutes violence, then you will take any means necessary to snuff it out https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/13/democrats-are-using-the-recent-capitol-riot-to-consolidate-power/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/11/21: Is the Biden administration planning to use the purported threat of "domestic violent extremism" (DVE) to justify a further crackdown on the First Amendment by Big Tech proxy? Yes. https://www.newsweek.com/will-free-speech-first-casualty-bidens-war-domestic-terror-opinion-1568088
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/15/21: Biden admin's planning to use full force of feds in pursuit of a new war. Its target? Americans. This countering DVE effort, declared in wake of Capitol riot, manifests media rhetoric about need to “deprogram,” “de-ba’athify,” drone Deplorables https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/15/bidens-domestic-war-on-terrorism-may-seek-to-criminalize-political-dissent/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
3/31/21: illiberal efforts are accelerating and expanding in 2021—supercharged using pretext of Capitol Riot—reflected in Wokeification of military, muzzling of contrarian media and impending execution of a war on DVE that could sweep up half the country https://www.newsweek.com/why-big-tech-censored-our-podcast-touching-2020-election-irregularities-opinion-1579647
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/22/21: In Woke America we increasingly inhabit, opposing prog agenda is tantamount to bigotry. Dem's modus operandi is to play up purported bigotry as pretext to savage/smear pol foes, run roughshod over rights, usurp power in name of virtue, "equity" https://www.newsweek.com/covid-19-hate-crimes-bill-thought-crime-bill-opinion-1585568
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
5/21/21: J6 Cmte's part of a rolling effort to exploit disgraceful actions of several hundred to further narrative up to half US constitutes would-be or actual terrorists, justify pervasive use of Ruling Class power to pursue em, hang it around necks of Rs https://www.newsweek.com/january-6th-commission-wrongthink-inquisition-opinion-1593500
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
5/23/21: Ruling Class has invested in collapsing narrative—J6 represented murderous, armed insurrection, threatening US. Yet exploitation of event to marginalize/malign up to half US, in slew of efforts posing threat to liberty/justice, continues apace https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-capitol-riot-narrative-is-collapsing-but-its-political-exploitation-persists_3826065.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
6/30/21: Biden admin's Domestic Terror Strategy codifies fed War on Wrongthink. It makes imposition of Wokeism NatSec imperative, using public safety to justify leftist domination of public policy, discourse, enforcing regime's ideology at point of gov gun https://www.newsweek.com/biden-domestic-terror-strategy-codifies-woke-war-wrongthink-opinion-1605341
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
7/2/21: Claiming half US loathed by Ruling Class is bigoted isn't new, nor is fear-mongering belief people should vote in person, w ID, on election day is rooted in bigotry. But linking views re elections to not only bigotry, but terrorism, is novel https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-capitol-riot-narrative-is-collapsing-but-its-political-exploitation-persists_3826065.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
7/16/21: Biden remarks on "protecting the sacred, const right to vote" advocated for nothing of sort. He was at his demagogic worst, maligning those who'd ensure vote integrity. Disturbing rhetoric in context of Dom Terror Strategy makes it more sinister https://www.newsweek.com/biden-voting-rights-demagoguery-made-more-sinister-domestic-terror-plan-opinion-1610299
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
7/16/21: The demagoguery, manufactured hysteria of the Ruling Class, and the tyrannical lengths to which it believes it must go to impose its will—using civil rights-imperiling force and coercion rather than persuasion—betrays weakness and authoritarianism https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-ruling-class-poses-the-very-authoritarian-dangers-it-claimed-trump-did_3903950.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
7/23/21: Ruling Class effort to control info sphere—monopolize Narrative—has been underway for years. What's changed is it's now policy for relevant state & private-sector power centers to jointly eliminate dissent, under pretext of public health, NatSec https://www.newsweek.com/biden-big-tech-covid-censorship-collusion-tip-ruling-class-spear-opinion-1612355
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/8/21: Totalitarian regimes classify dissent as dom extremism and, under guise of public health/safety, hunt dissenters w NatSec apparatus. It defends ruling regime. This is increasingly America under Joe Biden, Ruling Class avatar https://www.newsweek.com/biden-regime-uses-domestic-extremism-impose-its-rule-opinion-1636417
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/11/21: It's no coincidence DOJ heeded NSBA call for Biden admin to target parents critical of CRT, COVID policies in schools by labeling 'em domestic terrorists and mobilizing DOJ/FBI against em. Strategy for Countering Dom Terror mandates it https://thefederalist.com/2021/10/11/biden-administration-parents-who-oppose-racism-are-domestic-terrorists/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/3/22: 2021 closes as year of crackdown, when Ruling Class weaponized its powers to crush dissenters from Wokeist-Scientist orthodoxy in arguably most far-reaching, brazen, lawless assault on Americans by state and private-sector adjuncts in US history https://www.newsweek.com/2021-year-ruling-class-crackdown-dissent-opinion-1664757
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/6/22: J6 melodrama's part of info op by authoritarian Ruling Class to cast foes as threats to democracy (its power), use purported threat to justify whole-of-society crackdown on dissent. Ruling Class:dem as Fauci:Science. Neither may be challenged https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/06/democrats-cling-to-j6-mania-because-they-cant-appeal-to-facts-or-their-failed-policies/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/25/22: While Biden admin fixates on smearing political opponents as dom terrorists and effectively silencing, targeting, pursuing them accordingly, bona fide terrorists, foreign adversaries, violent criminals have been greenlit to act with total impunity https://www.newsweek.com/woke-weak-biden-punishes-americans-emboldens-adversaries-opinion-1671921
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/17/22: In Biden's America, attempting to cancel Joe Rogan is counter-terror policy. This is bc for ruling class, those who question regime on any matter of consequence pose threats to homeland, as per DHS's threat bulletin on mis- dis- malinformation https://www.newsweek.com/americas-ruling-regime-doesnt-fear-disinformation-it-fears-truth-opinion-1679940
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/7/22: The chilling effort to destroy the lives of Trump-defending lawyers is part and parcel of the War on Wrongthink https://www.theepochtimes.com/chilling-effort-to-destroy-trump-lawyers-epitomizes-americas-war-on-wrongthink_4388006.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/27/22: The Biden administration's equity action plans make Wokeism vital to both U.S. national security and foreign policy--further codifying the War on Wrongthink https://www.newsweek.com/biden-equity-plans-make-wokeism-core-us-national-security-opinion-1700866
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
5/12/22: The truth about the Biden administration's Disinformation Czar is exposed--revealing her to be the perfect representative of the anti-Wrongthink regime https://nypost.com/2022/05/12/you-couldnt-have-picked-a-worse-minister-of-truth-than-nina-jankowicz/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
6/6/22: The contrast in the cases of Michael Sussmann and Peter Navarro sends an unmistakeable message: The Ruling Class believes it can take out anyone, anywhere, anytime, on any grounds, while it is untouchable https://thefederalist.com/2022/06/06/justice-for-me-but-not-for-thee-why-sussmann-walked-but-navarro-was-shackled/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
6/7/22: Big Tech censors Jan. 6 journalism on heels of Committee show trial, reinforcing the point Wrongthink on elections constitutes a danger, and cementing Big Tech’s role as deputized Deep State info warrior https://nypost.com/2022/06/07/youtube-now-censoring-journalism-for-the-biden-administration/amp/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
6/10/22: The Jan. 6 Committee may be a sham, but it's a deathly serious one because it casts political opposition as terroristic, and seeks to probe and punish said opposition accordingly--hand-in-glove with the Department of Justice https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-jan-6-committee-may-be-a-sham-but-its-a-deathly-serious-one_4525373.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
6/20/22: Disinformation Governance Board, contrary to claims of DHS Sec. Mayorkas, was focused on domestic dissent on the most contentious of issues--namely election integrity and the Chinese coronavirus--and sought to deputize Big Tech as speech police https://www.newsweek.com/documents-show-dhs-wants-deputize-big-tech-speech-police-opinion-1716670
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
6/21/22: Other side of War on Wrongthink coin is that while Wrongthinkers are treated as terrorists, progressives engaged in political violence aligned with The Regime are treated with kid gloves. Justice = soft on prog crime, hard on thought crime https://www.theepochtimes.com/lefts-leniency-on-its-political-violence-demonstrates-its-devotion-to-injustice_4547996.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
8/8/22: War on Wrongthink crosses a new civilizational Rubicon, with the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago. https://www.newsweek.com/fbis-mar-lago-raid-presents-time-choosing-regime-america-opinion-1731983
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
8/17/22: The Regime uses the Mar-a-Lago raid--an escalation in the War on Wrongthink--to further intensify it by casting itself as victim of the gambit rather than the aggressor, using victimhood status to persecute political opponents ever more viciously https://thefederalist.com/2022/08/17/in-its-war-on-trump-and-wrongthink-the-regime-just-delivered-a-death-blow-to-rule-of-law/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
8/22/22: Your Deep State, aided by its corporate media communications arm, would like you to know that its rank corruption, brazen intimidation, and chilling weaponization on behalf of our ruling administration aren’t the real danger to America. You are. https://www.theepochtimes.com/deep-state-plays-victim-in-mar-a-lago-raid-so-administration-can-keep-persecuting-wrongthinkers_4672503.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
9/23/22: We learned that the FBI rewarded serial Russian disinformation-spinner Igor Danchenko -- the key researcher behind the key document (the Steele dossier) behind the key effort to undermine candidate, and then topple President @realDonaldTrump (Russiagate), while it was punishing whistleblowing Special Agent @RealStevefriend for detailing myriad allegations of FBI malfeasance around January 6 https://newsweek.com/fbi-paid-russian-disinformation-while-punishing-patriot-opinion-1745574
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/11/22: The Woke medical establishment not only seeks to encourage interventions up to the mutilation of children's' bodies, but with it the mutilation of Americans' free speech rights in service of its lucrative "gender-affirming care" enterprise by calling on AG Garland to unleash the DOJ on foes of efforts to transition children https://newsweek.com/medical-establishment-wants-less-free-speech-more-mutilated-children-opinion-1750204
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/17/22: PayPal's proposed policy to fine "misinformation" promoters up to $2,500 per violation raises the specter of dystopia: a de-banked future—driven by de facto social credit scoring—that is quickly becoming our present https://www.newsweek.com/paypal-americas-pending-social-credit-system-opinion-1752074
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
10/27/22: Do Americans want the DOJ demanding they cooperate with free speech-stifling, unbelievably extensive fishing expeditions if they dare support policies with which the president disagrees? That prospect was put to the test in an Alabama courtroom. In a rare rebuke, a federal judge smacked down the DOJ for targeting conservative nonprofit Eagle Forum of Alabama with a stunning subpoena — punishing the wrongthinker on gender ideology by process and sending a chilling message to other dissenters from regime orthodoxy https://nypost.com/2022/10/27/bidens-doj-finally-got-a-legal-slapdown-for-targeting-a-group-opposed-to-mutilating-kids/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/9/22: New revelations about America's speech police forces illustrate the massive challenges facing anyone who would dare seek to rein in a rotted national security and intelligence apparatus hellbent on pursuing Wrongthinkers under the guise of "mis-, dis-, and mal-information" https://theepochtimes.com/new-revelations-about-americas-speech-police-illustrate-challenges-for-reformers-of-deep-state_4850771.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
11/25/22: The Democrats kicked off their 2024 presidential campaign by appointing a special counsel to pursue Donald Trump, an escalation in their political prosecution of him and a brazen act of election interference. This is where “our democracy” stands today: with its purported defenders engaging in the singularly anti-democratic act of siccing a hyper-politicized law enforcement apparatus on a candidate for the highest elected office, on dubious grounds, thereby subverting the political process by which we decide who represents us. https://theepochtimes.com/appointment-of-special-counsel-amounts-to-election-interference-and-sets-dangerous-precedent_4884195.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/9/22: The Twitter Files shine a spotlight on the revolving door between the Democrat-partnered Deep State and Democrat-dominated Big Tech -- which have used their disproportionate control over the pivotal area of speech to stifle political foes and attain ideological dominance https://nypost.com/2022/12/09/inside-revolving-door-between-democrat-deep-state-and-big-tech/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/25/22: The Twitter Files have provided stunning confirmation of a Deep State-Big Tech conspiracy to censor ideas and individuals deemed harmful to their shared ends — from protecting Joe Biden’s candidacy for president to draconian COVID-19 lockdowns — under the pretext of national security or public health. But Twitter was far from the only platform with the motive and means to purge dissenting voices from establishment orthodoxy. Nor was it the only such platform with a “Trust and Safety” (read: “censorship”) team helmed by former US intelligence officials, which met regularly with their former security-state employers to combat “misinformation” in the run-up to the 2020 election. https://nypost.com/2022/12/25/revelations-about-twitter-intel-ties-raise-questions-about-big-tech-other-sites/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
12/26/22: With its "move along, nothing to see here" response to the Twitter Files, the FBI gaslights the American people over the stunning—if unsurprising—evidence that it engaged in a conspiracy with Big Tech to silence Wrongthinkers in violation of the First Amendment. Meanwhile, in attacking those who refuse to be gaslit, the bureau is also telegraphing that it would respond to Congress investigating its hyper-politicization and weaponization with relentless information warfare. https://newsweek.com/fbi-gaslights-america-over-twitter-files-opinion-1769352
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/4/23: As stunning as the Twitter Files have proven in revealing a largely successful bid by the U.S. national security apparatus to manipulate public opinion at a mass scale by imposing a censorship regime on social media platforms, they are merely the tip of the iceberg for why the @Weaponization is needed. Consider this—by no means comprehensive—list of the many areas ripe for investigation: The national security apparatus' alleged inflation of the domestic violent extremist threat—under which they have effectively sought to equate "MAGA" with "terrorist." FBI's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop and seeming unwillingness to pursue related probes, including into how the president might be implicated in corrupt foreign influence-peddling with our worst adversaries—while pursuing, along with the Justice Department (DOJ), the likes of James O'Keefe and Project Veritas over Ashley Biden's diary. The DOJ's pursuit of parents critical of draconian COVID-19 policies and Critical Race Theory. DOJ/FBI's targeting of pro-lifers while treating their attackers with kid gloves. FBI's alleged purging of conservative employees. DHS' attempted creation of a Disinformation Governance Board and broader persisting effort across agencies to police "mis-, dis-, and mal-information." FBI's deploying of entrapment schemes and use of confidential informants. DOJ/FBI's double standard in the pursuit of January 6 defendants versus summer 2020 Black Lives Matter rioters. The Mar-a-Lago raid. DOJ/FBI's hyper-political pursuit of Republican members of Congress, state legislators, and numerous others in connection with January 6. And then there is Russiagate itself and its subsidiary scandals, from the mass of illegal leaks to FISA abuse, the hyper-political prosecution of Michael Flynn and others, the Mueller special counsel's politicization, and recent revelations that the Department of Justice was snooping on congressional investigators. The targeting of Donald Trump and his allies, and the comparative non-pursuit of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and numerous other powerful left-leaning figures alone could fill years' worth of hearings. https://newsweek.com/twitter-files-tip-iceberg-needed-church-style-committee-opinion-1770948
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/9/23: We hear a lot about the illiberalism that prevails on college campuses and increasingly pervades the "real world"—where Wrongthink is not only castigated and censored, but even criminalized. However, it's another thing entirely to witness it up close and personal. I had occasion to spend time among the silenced, shunned, and canceled of the academy. What they said—or in some cases, conveyed through their silence—was profoundly disturbing. The impression they left about the state of our disproportionately influential elite academic institutions, and therefore what is to come in the disproportionately influential economic, cultural, and political institutions where their students will matriculate, is perhaps even more profoundly disturbing. https://newsweek.com/my-visit-silenced-shunned-canceled-academy-opinion-1772062
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
1/17/23: With the establishment of a Church-style @Weaponization committee, Congress now has a vital opportunity to hold America’s national security and law enforcement apparatus to account for its corrupt and lawless targeting of perceived political foes. The House Judiciary subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, will be fully empowered to investigate the deep state’s depredations across the entirety of the executive branch, covering the full panoply of assaults on our civil liberties, and to take steps to prevent it from ever inflicting such damage on our republic again. Given the massive scope of the already-known security state scandals, the stakes involved in putting said security state on trial, and the counterassault against the committee already underway, it is imperative that the panel operate in a highly strategic fashion to seize the critical opportunity at hand. To that end, its planners should give considerable thought to the following questions upfront. https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/17/for-the-sake-of-the-republic-the-church-style-weaponization-committee-must-answer-these-questions/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
2/14/23: Almost daily now, Americans see new evidence of a mass, public-private censorship regime—part and parcel of something resembling an American social credit system in which those who submit to ruling class orthodoxy are rewarded, and those who run afoul of it are railroaded. So when news broke recently that DirecTV was booting center-right network Newsmax, the fourth highest-rated cable news channel, from its lineup, the question naturally arose: Was this about politics, or was it strictly business? A deeper question also beckons: To what extent has politics so pervaded every facet of American life that a distinction can even be drawn between the two? https://theepochtimes.com/newsmax-versus-directv-and-americas-censorship-regime_5052006.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
3/6/23: The release of J6 footage via @TuckerCarlson elicits Ruling Class rage. Why? They can't handle your handling of the truth. That's the dirty secret behind their outrage over House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) decision to fulfill a commitment to release the 44,000 hours of January 6 footage the U.S. Capitol Police had been sitting on. The purpose of the release of the footage should be obvious: Americans deserve to know the unvarnished truth about the Capitol breach—an event that has been used to justify the Left's sprawling, civil liberties-eviscerating War on Wrongthink. https://newsweek.com/mccarthys-release-january-6-footage-offers-hope-clarity-opinion-1785550
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
3/14/23: .@Weaponization releases a stunning but unsurprising report on the FTC's targeting of @elonmusk over his purchase of Twitter and whistleblowing about its prior First Amendment-eviscerating coordination with the federal government https://www.theepochtimes.com/deep-administrative-state-depredations-exposed-in-ftc-investigation-of-musk_5118738.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
3/29/23: America's Ruling Class has stoked a moral panic over mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM), claiming the consumption of such content fuels threats to public health and safety among its political foes, and using the fear over such threats to justify a whole-of-society War on Wrongthink targeting said foes. An essential component of the Ruling Class's War on Wrongthink is the mass public-private censorship regime that Americans have had imposed upon us primarily by a Disinformation-Industrial Complex running from the Deep State to Big Tech to often government-tied MDM monitors. Now, it would appear the already sprawling Disinformation-Industrial Complex may be creeping into and coming to encompass your local elementary school—targeting your children. https://newsweek.com/disinformation-industrial-complex-coming-k-12-schools-opinion-1790694
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
3/29/23: In wake of collapse of SVB, and with authorities rushing to intervene and calm financial markets, a perhaps unexpected subplot emerged. On a Zoom call consisting of congressmen, their staffers, and officials representing the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on the Sunday in which the agencies would publicly announce their “non-bailout” bailout of SVB – Democrat Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona raised a question. According to House Republican colleague @RepThomasMassie, Kelly asked agency officials “if there was a program underway on social media to censor information that would lead to a bank run.” Massie told @ShellenbergerMD that: I believe he [Sen. Kelly] couched it [the censorship inquiry] in a concern that foreign actors would be doing this…but he didn’t suggest the censorship should be limited to foreigners or to things that were untrue. The people from the three agencies couldn’t answer him and just sort of took a pass on the question. Sen. Kelly would clarify that on the Zoom call I said, ‘Hey, our foreign adversaries out there may have an interest in trying to undermine our banking system. Have we put in any protections, have we reached out to social media companies to see if this is something they’re thinking about?’ So that’s the question I asked. Accounts suggest Senator Kelly’s “ask” was more prescriptive. Regardless, in another time such a proposition might have been inconceivable. Rumor and innuendo have proliferated in financial markets – as in every other area of human life concerning contentious and substantive issues, particularly those involving power and influence – since time immemorial. But we are living in no ordinary time. Sen. Kelly’s position is consistent with the zeitgeist – with what is fast becoming our censorious new normal in which anything and everything that could be perceived to be “harmful” is ripe for silencing. That new normal was on display days earlier, when Shellenberger and fellow disaffected liberal journalist @mtaibbi delivered bombshell testimony before @Weaponization concerning the “Twitter Files.” The Twitter Files brought into stark relief one of the great scandals in U.S. history: that America’s Ruling Class erected a mass public-private censorship regime to wage war on dissenters from its orthodoxy, part and parcel of a broader domestic War on Wrongthink. Central to the censorship regime is what Shellenberger and Taibbi term the “Censorship Industrial Complex.” The focus of their testimony, a new installment of the Twitter Files released alongside it, and much that we have learned from prior installments and court cases demonstrates that for years now we have been operating in an information environment rife with government interference – interference in our elections and concerning our basic functioning as a society given the pervasive Chinese coronavirus-related interventions. To save “our democracy,” the national security apparatus and its administrative state partners, alongside Big Tech, corporate media, and a coterie of research organizations, “fact-checkers,” and NGOs – themselves often times government-funded and staffed with ex-government officials – have conspired to suppress ideas that challenge their own and silence the individuals who dare to espouse them. Like all good tyrannies, this one claims to do so for the benefit of its victims – to maintain public health and public safety, “defending democracy” by perversely adopting the authoritarian tactic of quashing free and open discourse. As a subsequent Twitter File release would reveal, our betters in fact went so far as to quash free and open discourse on accepted truths regarding the Chinese coronavirus when those truths undermined their favored narratives. If we are to overcome this censorship regime – an imperative if we are to live as a free people – it is critical to understand why it arose and how it has been institutionalized. https://docemetproductions.com/americas-disinformation-dystopia/
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
3/31/23: @mtaibbi speaks to @Weaponization, a subcommittee created for the purpose of exposing and holding to account weaponized federal agencies, about how a number of those agencies had conspired with each other and private sector actors to target their political opposition in arguable violation of the opposition’s First Amendment rights. That very day, a federal agency with the power to wreak unique havoc on its targets' lives dispatched an official to Taibbi’s door with a message. The stated message was that the journalist was to call the IRS. The unstated message needed no articulating: Expose federal government malfeasance such as authorities’ imposing of a mass public-private censorship regime on the American people, and you can expect a knock at your door from federal agents armed with the power to break you. https://theepochtimes.com/the-ominous-message-behind-the-taxmans-visit-to-journalist-matt-taibbis-home_5160626.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/3/23: DA Alvin Bragg brings a wholly contrived, baseless, unprecedented, abomination of a case against @realDonaldTrump that every other Trump-hating authority declined to bring. It’s an outrageous assault on the rule of law that “normalizes” the other bastardized cases likely to come from Georgia to Washington, D.C. in the perpetual coup against Trump and anyone else who dares to engage in the actual (thought)crime core to every Trump-related case: opposing our ruling elites. The indictment can never be undone. A precedent has been set: America, like every other tinpot dictatorship, now legally persecutes leaders when out of power. Its rulers, Beria-like, seek to lock the opposition in jail, to criminalize dissent by finding a crime to fit the man. Now, as another New York prosecution just showed, our ruling class not only pursues presidents but wins cases convicting political meme-makers. For generations, millions fled their ancestral homelands, penniless, and without knowing a word of English, to come to America in search of refuge from the very kind of regime ours has now become. There is nowhere else to flee. In attempting to destroy one man, our ruling elites have not only eviscerated the rule of law for us all, but also fundamentally transformed America into a Third World nation, and therefore fundamentally transformed the Western civilization that America has led. This is a world-historical calamity from which there’s no going back. And there’s no remedy. https://theepochtimes.com/trump-indictment-fundamentally-transforms-america-to-third-world-nation_5168510.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/7/23: Revelations from Missouri and Louisiana et al. v. Biden demonstrate that Americans have been funding their own censorship via a government-led Disinformation-Industrial Complex -- a censorship regime the government seems to be covering up https://www.newsweek.com/taxpayer-dollars-must-not-fund-government-led-censorship-regime-opinion-1792828
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/18/23: @Weaponization report shows Biden DOJ baselessly targeted parents concerned about their kids being indoctrinated in leftism in public schools as domestic terrorists. Zero investigations resulted in federal arrests or charges https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-biden-administrations-war-on-parents_5195934.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
4/19/23: In their targeting of all from political memesters to parents and pious Catholics, the authorities have criminalized dissent, systematically eroding the First Amendment. There are literal thought criminals now https://www.theepochtimes.com/with-dissent-now-criminalized-free-speech-faces-a-big-chill_5204836.html
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
From the Shapley affidavit: "There is no reward for me for becoming a whistleblower. The only win for me is to not be fired or arrested or retaliated against." https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whistleblower-1-Transcript_Redacted.pdf#page=9
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"After you hear my testimony, I believe you will understand why my conscience would not be silenced. My oath of office would have been unfulfilled if I did nothing. I went from a senior leader to a pariah, and the only thing that happened in between was that I blew the whistle. I…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"If search warrants or witness interviews or document requests that include the actual subjects' names are not allowed, for example, that is simply a deviation from the normal process that provided preferential treatment, in this case to Hunter Biden." https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whistleblower-1-Transcript_Redacted.pdf#page=11
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"the criminal tax investigation of Hunter Biden, led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, has been handled differently than any investigation I've ever been a part of for the past 14 years of my IRS service" https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whistleblower-1-Transcript_Redacted.pdf#page=12
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
More Shapley: "at every stage decisions were made that had the effect of benefiting the subject," Hunter Biden, including: -Slow-walking -Preventing enforcement action -Limiting witness questioning -Misleading investigators on charging authority -Delaying actions pre-election
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Let this sink in: "The investigation into Hunter Biden, code name Sportsman, was first opened in November 2018 as an offshoot of an investigation the IRS was conducting into a foreign-based amateur online pornography platform" https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whistleblower-1-Transcript_Redacted.pdf#page=12
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
DOJ stood down on the Biden investigation from the jump, and well before normal freeze period before elections https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whistleblower-1-Transcript_Redacted.pdf#page=13
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
An Assistant US Attorney "said a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden, but said there is no way we will get that approved." This after Shapley unleashed evidence indicating Joe's involvement in Hunter's China "biz"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"The prosecutors even wanted to remove Hunter Biden's name from electronic search warrants, 2703(d) orders, and document requests...DOJ Tax Line Attorney Jack Morgan said, doing it without Hunter Biden's name would probably still get us, in quote, 'most' of the data we sought. I…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
FARA investigation into Hunter Biden sabotaged by authorities. DOJ felt it needed to "repair its reputation," apparently by not investigating the Bidens
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Sept. 2020: The "FBI case agent in Delaware had only recently moved back to his hometown of Wilmington with his wife and family and was concerned about the consequences for him and his family if they conducted...sensitive interviews and executed a search warrant of the President…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Prosecutors kept Hunter Biden's laptop from investigators. "This decision is unprecedented in my experience," says Shapley. "Investigators assigned to this investigation were obstructed from seeing all the available evidence. It is unknown if all the evidence in the laptop was…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Among the most significant claims by whistleblower Gary Shapley -- and there are many of them -- is this: "Based on guidance provided by the prosecutors on a recurring basis to not look into anything related to President Biden, there is no way of knowing if evidence of other…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Why didn't Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf want to know about "the big guy" and Hunter Biden's "dad?"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
FBI HQ tipped off Secret Service and transition team about plans to interview Hunter Biden in Dec. 2020. Team Hunter proceeded to wall him off. Who at FBI HQ leaked this information to Biden's team, undermining the investigation?
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Shapley: "I can't know for certain whether FBI's advance notice played a role or not, but of the 12 interviews we hoped to conduct on our day of action, we only got one substantive interview. It was with Rob Walker in Arkansas, and it was exactly the sort of interview we expected…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Rob Walker played down the whole "10% for the big guy" line, but then provided an account of Joe literally walking in on Hunter's China business -- in seemingly coordinated fashion to help him win said business. FBI agent then "inexplicably...changed the subject"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
IRS investigators want to get a search warrant for unit where Hunter Biden's documents are stored. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesely Wolf seemingly comes to the Bidens' rescue again, tipping Hunter's lawyers off to unit. Shapley: "This was the second search warrant where prosecutors…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Shapley in May 2021 memo: "Through interviews and review of evidence obtained, it appears there may be campaign finance criminal violations. AUSA Wolf stated on the last prosecution team meeting that she did not want any of the agents to look into the allegation. She cited a need…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"AUSA Wolf supported charging Hunter Biden for tax evasion and false return in 2014, 2018, and 2019, and failure to file or pay for 2015, 2016, and 2017. It is my understanding that the Tax Division then authored a 90-plus-page memo that recommended prosecution"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
But the venue for the case would be D.C. or California, not Delaware. AUSA for D.C., relevant authority for '14 and '15 was Matthew Graves, a Joe Biden appointee. He "personally reviewed the report and did not support it." Biden appointee killed Hunter Biden charges
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Delaware U.S. Attorney Weiss reportedly requested special counsel authority to charge Hunter Biden in D.C. -- over wishes of Matthew Graves. DOJ denied him that authority
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"That process meant no charges would ever be brought in the District of Columbia, where the statute of limitations on the 2014 and '15 charges would eventually expire. The years in question included foreign income from Burisma and a scheme to evade his income taxes through a…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"Hunter Biden still has not reported approximately $400,000 in income from Burisma and has not paid the tax due and owing of around $125,000 even after being told multiple times by his partner, Eric Schwerin, that he had to amend his 2014 return to report that income"
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
You can't make this stuff up. Thanks to the chicanery: "There is no mechanism available to collect the tax owed by Hunter Biden for 2014 other than in a voluntary fashion."
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
August 2022, as authorities theoretically prepare to charge Hunter Biden: "Chris Clark, Hunter Biden's counsel from Latham and Watkins, told them [prosecutors] that if they charge Hunter Biden, they would be committing 'career suicide,' end quote."
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Failing in D.C., prosecutors sought to bring Hunter Biden charges, years after alleged offenses occurred, in California. They presented their case "correspond[ing] with the confirmation of the President Biden appointee to the United States Attorney, Martin Estrada. The case agent…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
DOJ asked Shapley in late 2022 for "all my emails on the [Hunter Biden] case, saying they needed to ensure they were aware of any exculpatory or impeachment effort in the case. But their extraordinary request looked to us just like a fishing expedition to know what we'd been…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"On November 7th, 2022, the FBI special agent on the case, Mike Dzielak, called me to tell me the United States Attorney's Office had requested both management- and senior management-level documents from the FBI related to the investigation. He said that had never happened before…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Shapley: "I documented issues that I would normally have addressed as they occurred, because the United States Attorney's Office and Department of Justice Tax continued visceral reactions to any dissenting opinions or ideas. Every single day was a battle to do our jobs." "I…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Shapley: "After some time, I realized...I subconsciously knew they were not doing the right thing, but I could not fathom concluding that the United States Attorney's Office or DOJ Tax were in the wrong. After I wrapped my mind around the fact that they were not infallible, I…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Shapley alleges Attorney General Merrick Garland perjured himself before Congress
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Shapley: "I did not choose to sit here before you today. I was compelled by my conscience when decision after decision has been made to deviate from our normal investigative processes. I believe Congress needs to know this information. I trust you'll do the right thing, because…
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
Authorities wanted to slap Hunter Biden with felony tax evasion charges, a felony false tax return charge, and a misdemeanor for failure to file or pay -- some of these charges over several years
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
There are 8-10,000 pages of evidence and documents backing the ~85 page report laying out the case for all of these recommended charges against Hunter Biden
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
So NARA didn't assist Trump's team in archiving documents during the transition -- unlike it did for the five prior presidents -- then made a criminal referral over the documents it didn't assist in archiving? https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23789802/read-trump-lawyers-letter-to-congress-reveal-foreign-leader-briefings-may-be-among-classified-documents-taken-from-white-house.pdf#page=2… https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23789802/read-trump-lawyers-letter-to-congress-reveal-foreign-leader-briefings-may-be-among-classified-documents-taken-from-white-house.pdf#page=2
@bhweingarten - Benjamin Weingarten
"Whether NARA’s departure from routine pack-out procedures for President Trump was intentional or a product of the compressed timeline, it did not take custody of the documents and this made necessary the transfer of boxes of documents to President Trump’s heavily secured home at Mara-a-Largo. To be clear, had NARA offered President Trump the same assistance that it had provided to all previous Presidents, he would have accepted the offer and there would have been no reason to transfer the documents to Mar-a-Lago." https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23789802/read-trump-lawyers-letter-to-congress-reveal-foreign-leader-briefings-may-be-among-classified-documents-taken-from-white-house.pdf#page=2…