Thread by @SethAbramson

(THREAD) My new book Proof of Corruption and I just officially became a problem for the Trump White House—*according to the Trump White House*.

There's now hard evidence that I and my book have been "noted in the building" in a significant way. I hope you'll read on and retweet.

1/ This is a strange story that culminates with something incredible happening—that I have proof of—during the middle of the night last night. I want to set up the context for what happened first, but it involves me, my book, and the Trump White House. I hope you'll bear with me.

2/ Business associates Roger Stone and Michael Caputo—two top Trump advisers with ties to Russia, the former through years of collusion established by my fully sourced "Proof" trilogy and the latter via direct employment by a Kremlin-owned company—have known who I am a long time.

3/ Roger Stone's lawyer used to DM me on Twitter regularly, seeking more favorable coverage for his client—which I rebuffed on the grounds that Stone is treacherous to the United States and legitimately dangerous to our democracy. I was—we now know—robustly correct on that score.

4/ Michael Caputo and I feuded publicly on Twitter, with Caputo getting so worked up that he *threatened violence*. Perhaps suspecting that his account could be suspended—a serious concern for someone in mass communications—he publicly apologized for flying (way) off the handle.

5/ When breaking news arrived from POLITICO in the last 48 hours that Caputo, now at DHHS, had been doctoring CDC reports to dovetail Trump's (and Putin's) lies on COVID-19—and that the doctoring was killing Americans—I referenced my old feud with Caputo. politico.com/news/2020/09/1…

6/ I didn't "@" Caputo, but he flew off the handle, anyway—perhaps remembering our prior interaction, as well as the fact that, since that interaction, he had been mentioned in both Proof of Collusion (2018) and Proof of Conspiracy (2019), two NYT bestsellers that many folks saw.

7/ But Caputo—under fire nationally for negligently killing Americans—spent all day anyway ranting about... me. His rant was filled with bizarre lies about me, my background, our past interaction, and the success of my last two Proof books—both of which, again, had mentioned him.

8/ As the meltdown of this Trump adviser, Stone associate, and longtime Kremlin agent continued, he began stalking my *readers* and blocking them—in some cases attacking them personally (even, bizarrely, their educational pedigrees). It was a truly bizarre—public—comms collapse.

9/ I told Caputo there was no doubt the White House took my work *very* seriously. I noted that Sarah Sanders—as White House Press Secretary—had publicly deemed me one of the 24 most ardent Trump critics in America, and Trump shill Kellyanne Conway had followed my feed for years.

10/ I'd add that Flynn, his son, and Gorka have blocked me; I was one of George Papadopoulos' first follows on Twitter—and he's DMed me regularly—and beyond follows from people in the Trump White House and DMs with associated figures, I've often been targeted by Trump's proxies.

11/ But Caputo was at great pains to say no one knew me or my book Proof of Corruption, even as *I* said something very different: that the White House was so intent on not amplifying Proof of Corruption—the most damning book on Trump now in print—it would soon shut Caputo down.

12/ Within 30 minutes of me saying the White House would shut Caputo down, as his second unhinged public feud with me—likely prompted by my two NYT bestsellers attacking his record—would draw attention to me and Proof of Corruption that the White House didn't want, this happened:

13/ Well, I thought that was the end of the story.

But it was not the end of the story.

14/ I knew the White House was concerned about my new book Proof of Corruption—published by major NYC trade press Macmillan—and wanted to track its sales during its first week, as anyone who's read it considers it the most damning indictment of Trump currently on the U.S. market.

15/ Caputo was—as I told him—contradicting what almost certainly was White House policy on my books: to try to avoid talking about them in preference for discussing books focused on gossip and scandal components (inherently less dangerous to Trump than books focusing on crimes).

16/ So here's where I want to mention something about White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern, who currently follows about 350 people (an exceedingly small number for someone in communications). It's worth breaking down his follows.

17/ The highly selective Twitter follows of White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern:

🔹 50 organizations (mostly media outlets)
🔹 80 White House or Trump 2020 campaign staffers
🔹 50 White House correspondents he works with daily

18/ The highly selective Twitter follows of White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern (pt. 2):

🔹 40 Fox News employees or contributors
🔹 20 politicians
🔹 60 major-media journalists working in D.C. (but not on the White House beat)

19/ The Twitter follows of White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern (pt. 3):

🔹 20 conservative celebrities (for instance, Voight, Baio, Kirk, Hewitt, Shapiro, Loesch, Sandmann, Bongino, [Herschel] Walker and [Terrence K.] Williams)

20/ The remaining 30 people White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern (@BMorgenstern45) follows range from Jerry Seinfeld to MLB pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., as well as Trump family members and a couple (apparent) Morgenstern friends.

21/ But among these final 30 people who White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern (@BMorgenstern45) follows are three people who stand out like the *sorest thumbs of all sore thumbs*. It's *really* striking who these three people are.

22/ The first of these three people is author and journalist Timothy L. O'Brien, a former New York Times employee who Donald Trump *sued* because he believed O'Brien's book TrumpNation was a *threat* to him. (Trump's suit was, predictably, dismissed.)

23/ The second of the 3 people whose following on Twitter by White House Deputy Communications Director Brian Morgenstern stands out as having no clear explanation is... *Peter Strzok*, who just authored a book describing events Trump thinks should see Strzok tried for *treason*.

24/ Then, last night, White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern (@BMorgenstern45) followed his *third-ever* anti-Trump author, suggesting a third man has gained the Trump White House's—likely Trump's, given O'Brien and Strzok—notice.

25/ That person is me.

I told Caputo the White House would shut him down—and they did. I told Caputo the White House was worried about my just-released book Proof of Corruption—and it is.

I told Caputo Trump's top advisers follow my work and are tracing its sales, and they are.

CONCLUSION/ The White House can deal with books that focus on gossip and scandal—what Trump *can't* abide are the books by O'Brien, Strzok, and me.

They're in a different category.

If you want to send a message to Trump that he will hear, read this book: amazon.com/dp/1250272998?…

PROOF/

MORE/ It's worth noting that—in the midst of being at the heart of national news for causing US deaths though what appears to be criminal negligence—Trump spox Caputo wasn't just stalking my readers but blocking them by the *dozens*. Especially any who mentioned the Proof series:

MORE2/ If you want to be angry, look at the most recent response by @MichaelRCaputo to readers of this feed criticizing him for his attacks on the Proof series and—far more importantly—his doctoring of CDC reports in a way that has threatened and continues to threaten U.S. lives:

UPDATE/ Someone just pointed me to some vile tweets @MichaelRCaputo "liked" as he ranted about me, including tweets calling me a "delusional lunatic" and "asshole" who should be in a "straight jacket" [sic] and tweets urging Trump to rehire Stone and Flynn. This is an *HHS spox*!

UPDATE2/ Caputo also seemed to deny that working for a Kremlin-owned company makes you a Kremlin agent—legally yes—or that his actions at HHS doctoring CDC reports threatened lives, which is the universal view of experts. Caputo implied it was "slander" [sic] (slander is spoken).