Thread by @nickpdonovan

What's the link btwn controversial Trump border wall firm Fisher Sand & Gravel, reportedly favored by Trump & equally controversial public affairs outfit Definers / America Rising / NTK - known for aggressive tactics & accused of fake news?

Thread 1/15

globalwitness.org/en-gb/blog/beh…

2/ Spotted first by @kyleehmke - Definers seem to use the same Google analytics code for many of their websites for related entities and their clients.

Tl;dr - The same tracking code pops up in the new website for Fisher Sand & Gravel.

https://twitter.com/kyleehmke/status/1065411911045574656

3/ E.g. the same Code was used to track visitors to Qatar Crisis News, an anonymous website dedicated to painting Qatar in a negative light:

web.archive.org/web/2017101920…

4/ Digging by @ninaandtito later revealed that Foreign Agent Registration Act disclosures by Definers staff showed they were working for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - specifically on "issues relating to client's termination of relations with Qatar".

https://twitter.com/ninaandtito/status/1065685504782413825

5/ Similar pattern w commercial clients:

It's widely reported that Definers worked for Apple's commercial rivals. Anonymous websites attacking Apple such as "Where Are the Apple Jobs" appeared, again sharing the same Google analytics code as Definers.

web.archive.org/web/2018112011…

6/ I particularly enjoyed drafttimcook.org - an anonymous website to draft Apple CEO as a presidential pick in 2020, presumably to make him a political threat & lessen his influence at the White House. If true, this is both devious and ingenious.

web.archive.org/web/2018041222…

7/ This is all allegedly amplified by the NTK Network, a conservative news aggregation site which shares offices and staff with Definers and which - possibly coincidentally - published stories attacking Apple :

E.g.:
ntknetwork.com/tim-cook-just-…

8/ NTK Network was reported in NYT by @jacknicas to have been pitched to potential Definers clients as a "Digital platform echo chamber". See:

https://twitter.com/jacknicas/status/1065411592932577280

Full NYT story: nytimes.com/2018/11/21/tec…

9/ And one former Definers employee reportedly told NBC News (@jolingkent; @oneunderscore__ ; @MCappetta) that NTK Network was the Definers' "in-house fake news shop"

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…

10/ By the way the same Google analytics code is used for websites attacking environmentalists - such as powerthefuture.com, steyerville.com and proposed climate policies: theycapyoupay.com.

11/ Definers and NTK Network also share offices with America Rising Corp, America Rising PAC - Republican attack outfits - and America Rising Squared - which - guess what? - also pursues environmentalists. E.g. following Bill McKibben with a camcorder: nytimes.com/2016/08/07/opi…

12/ So when the same Google analytics code pop up in the new website for Trump Border Wall firm Fisher - I'm intrigued.

You can read more about Trump's apparent favored firm here in WP by @NickMiroff and @jdawsey1

washingtonpost.com/immigration/he…

13/ and here in CNN by @priscialva; @ckmarie and @rabrowne75

edition.cnn.com/2019/05/31/pol…

14/ Fisher seem to be capable publicists - they got onto Fox & Friends the day after they registered their new website. Maybe they don't need Definers' help. But we can't be sure because there isn't any public disclosure, and neither firm responded to my requests for comment.

14/ BTW Definers deny being partisan, smearing opponents, deny using NTK to attack clients' opponents, and state that using opposition research tactics to investigate commercial entities is legitimate. Fisher have stated that any legal problems they faced were long ago.

15/15 & as Definers got caught up in criticism over linking opposition to Facebook to funding from Open Society Foundation, it's only fair to declare that we too have received core funding frm OSF (tho they know nothing about this work and don't influence our choice of projects.)