Taibbi and Musk missed something big about those Hunter Biden porn tweets Twitter took down in 2020. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Twitter suppressed the NYPost's Hunter Biden story in Oct 2020, an error. But they also suppressed nonconsensual tweets showing Hunter Biden's penis. And Taibbi and Musk also attacked those deletions. Musk said deleting them violated the First Amendment. thebulwark.com/no-you-do-not-…
But look at who was positing these Hunter Biden dick pics that Musk said are vital speech, contributing to Trump, paradoxically, to call for terminated the Constitution. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Of three tweets deleted at the Biden campaign's request in this screenshot Taibbi shared last week, all three that the Internet Archive can recover include Hunter selfie in which he's standing in front of a mirror, with his penis out. (I cropped out.)
The first was from a user with a sketchy address who also had the handle "ding_gang."
Wang Dinggang, known as "Lude," in '20 was a top ally of Bannon patron Guo Wengui, and made wild false claims about Hunter while releasing his explicit pics/videos. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
The third deleted tweet, with the same Hunter pic, was from from this user. The same person, with a Chinese handle that means "fitness training" is still on Twitter, and identifies himself as a member of Bannon and Guo's New Federal State of China.
The same guy in another social media account also identifies himself as a member of a group of Guo followers based in Long Island. (They're called "Mountains of Spices," or MOI.) A former Guo org person told me this guy uses the name Wenyang, and volunteers posting stuff for Guo.
The particular picture of Hunter that was in three of the tweets that Musk said were vital free speech was part of the material Bannon had sent to Guo (among comms I later obtained). It was in a Dropbox file called “Salacious Pics Package_EDITED." motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Guo had his assistant send the contents of "Salacious Pics Package_EDITED" to a bunch of his followers on October 24. They posted it in various places. Lude and Wenyang tweeted the same day.
That picture was disseminated as part of an organized international effort to spread purely salacious pictures of Hunter. And from the beginning, Guo had his people accompany the pictures with crazy lies. That's a disinformation campaign, if anything is. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Guo people carried out that effort, but Bannon was behind it. He praised Guo follower's lies about Hunter in a October 31, 2020 meeting, lauding their “editorial creativity over the pictures.” motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Twitter deleting consensual dick pics is not a conspiracy or even controversial. In 2020 they explicitly barred that kind of thing, and continue to. help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-p…
Twitter has also barred"coordinated harmful activity," since before fall 2020. web.archive.org/web/2020101502…. The New Federal State of China deliberately spreading salacious pictures and disgusting lies about Hunter Biden seems like exactly the kind of effort that policy aimed to stop.
Taibbi got back to me and basically argued all this doesn't matter, because the Biden campaign, and the Trump White House, had special access to Twitter execs. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
But with Musk citing these particular tweets while screaming about the First Amendment, I think most people would conclude their details, as well as the context in which they were posted, matters. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
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Watching closing arguments in Oath Keepers case, defense lawyers keep trying versions of this first point. They hope to sever OKers' rhetoric from actions. The problem most of these guys have, including "Kenny," is they stormed the Capitol. Hard to divorce that from words.
Harrelson lawyer Brad Geyer, after saying "if the video doesn't fit you must acquit," during his closing argument is playing video that I suspect no one but him wants to see.
Geyer says that if the gov presents evidence that is inaccurate, as he argues, "you gotta throw it out." Adds "If I'm walking down the street and see a jelly donut that has ants all over it" he won't eat it.
I'd urge him not to eat even an ant-free donut off the ground.
Early this year, Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese mogul who's has become Trump booster and Bannon patron, and touted his wealth, filed for bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay ~$250 million in a lawsuit. Guo claimed to have to less than $3.5K in assets. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
The trustee appointed to represent debtors in the case is pursuing assets Guo seems to be trying to hide through offshore companies nominally owned by relatives. On Thurs, the trustee filed a motion naming a bunch of Guo-linked firms he wants info from. documentcloud.org/documents/2331…
In response, Guo, who has a big following in the Chinese diaspora, freaked out and sent supporters to protest outside the home of the trustee, Luc Despins, and members of his family. This is a tactic Guo has used, dating to 2020, to harass critics. Seems like Despins hit a nerve.
Today in the Oath Keepers' sedition trial, prosecutors will cross-examine Jessica Watkins, who gambled Weds by admitting to some of the charges against her, in the evident hope her contrition and personal story will help her get acquitted on big charges. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Watkins said Weds that when she stormed Congress, she thought the Senate had already certified Biden's votes, ie she wasn't trying to stop it. But in a tape prosecutors are playing we hear Watkins on Zillow acknowledging another Oath Keeper who says the proceedings were ongoing.
AUSA Alexandra Hughes points out that in five interviews with FBI, Watkins never made the claim she made yesterday on stand: "Despite the fact you were charged with obstructing an official proceeding, you never said that you believed there was no official proceeding to obstruct."
Back at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse, day two (not counting jury selection) of the first Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial is starting a bit late. FBI agent Michael Palian is expected to continue testimony, which prosecutors are using to lay out basics of their case.
Judge Mehta, citing a couple cases offering some precedent, is ruling that the jury can assume Signal messages, like some Stewart Rhodes sent on to use the example of Serbia to mount an insurrection, have been seen/received to people they were sent to.
Mehta, speaking without the jury present, explains that he thinks that in his Signal messages, Rhodes was saying "in the immediate aftermath of the election...that 'We can’t accept the election results and this is what we need to do.'" And that was part of a conspiracy.
Good morning from the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse where opening arguments in the Stewart Rhodes/Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial are expected shortly after Judge Mehta bats down various last minute motions by defense lawyers.
Mehta has rejected a motion by lawyers for Kelly Meggs, who was the Oath Keepers lead in Florida, for bench trial. Meggs like many far right defendants, argues DC jurors are biased because its left-leaning. Judges have never gone for this argument.
Given the number of reporters live tweeting these proceedings, I plan to try not to do that, and to confine myself to stuff where I feel like I have something to add.
Here is a full, annotated transcript of that leaked Oct. 2020 tape in which Bannon described Trump's plan to falsely declare victory on election night. With @abigailweinberg. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Bannon said a bunch notable stuff in that 58 min meeting, including this about his attacks on Hillary in '16. "I had been…ten years on that bitch.I just beat her. I just beat her every day, right?” He laughed and made slapping noises while he said that.
Bannon also mocked Trump a couple times, calling him "kind of soft" when it came to attacking opponents. Bannon also said Trump “is like a little boy” because “he thinks the vaccines are magic.” motherjones.com/politics/2022/…