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Gabe Kaminsky

@gekaminsky

Feb 14

EXCLUSIVE: In its final days, the Biden administration awarded $50 million to an obscure nonprofit whose leader has a history of self-dealing and financial mismanagement, documents show.

Now, the Trump administration has launched an investigation and not yet disbursed the funding, officials shared w/ me.🧵

The $50M grant — from the Department of Energy — was approved on Jan. 13 for the Tribal Energy Consortium. It is a 501(c)(3) charity on Indian tribal land focused on energy and mineral development.

IRS records show the charity’s leader is Roger Fragua, a former Enron Corporation manager and consultant who wears different hats.

Read 8 tweets

Gabe Kaminsky

@gekaminsky

Jan 2

EXCLUSIVE: The State Department has quietly crafted plans to distribute staffers from its shuttered Global Engagement Center to a new internal "hub" coordinating the accused censorship office's activities, according to documents obtained by @dcexaminer

In a non-public letter, State outlined its plans to "realign" 51 GEC officials and tens of millions of dollars in funding to a so-called hub created to purportedly counter foreign interference

The GEC had a similar mission; however, it closed after calls from @realDonaldTrump / @elonmusk / @VivekGRamaswamy for lawmakers to stop funding it over domestic speech suppression concerns

The plans, which have not been reported on until now, will likely lead to Investigations from Republicans into the Biden administration's handling of the GEC's closure

That's because, according to senior GOP staffers who reviewed them, they appear to indicate that Biden is merely rebranding the GEC under a different name — forming a new body that could be poised to engage in work akin to that of which landed the GEC in hot water over the last two years

Read 6 tweets

Gabe Kaminsky

@gekaminsky

Sep 12, 2024

NEW: The FBI is being pressed by House Oversight Chair James Comer to promptly turn over information on a China-linked research institute that Tim Walz helped secure funding for and—as I reported at @dcexaminer —is a partner of the CCP-run Wuhan Institute of Virology. 🧵

"Recent reports indicate Mr. Walz, while in Congress, 'helped secure over $2 million' and 'pushed for a $5 million federal earmark' for the Hormel Institute, which [has] a history of working with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China," @RepJamesComer told FBI Director Christopher Wray.

"The Committee is concerned that Mr. Walz’s involvement with Chinese entities and officials may have allowed the CCP to influence his decision-making as a congressman and governor and potentially would allow the CCP to influence the White House should Mr. Walz be elected vice president," he said.

Comer, who said the FBI told @GOPoversight its Foreign Influence Task Force investigates "this kind of CCP activity," cited how ex-Hormel Institute director Dr. Zigang Dong resigned in 2019 upon the FBI investigating his failure to report foreign backing when applying for grants.

1) Here's Tim Walz with Dong in 2014.

2) Here's Tim Walz's then-legislative director Tim Bertocci, now working at the Pentagon, and former deputy chief of staff Sara Severs, now chief of staff at Minnesota's Transportation Department, with Dong in 2016.

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Gabe Kaminsky

@gekaminsky

Sep 10, 2024

EXCLUSIVE: The State Department, joined by the likes of the Poynter Institute, Clemson University, disinfo professor Kate Starbird, and Snopes, have secretly coordinated on a "fake news" listserv targeting conservative media, according to documents obtained by @dcexaminer 🧵1/4

In one example, in 2021, personnel from the State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy and Snopes founder David Mikkelson took aim at @DailyCaller — with Mikkelson trying to determine its funders. 2/4

State's Global Engagement Center has been on this listserv despite its mandate, like NED, to focus on foreign matters. That's a problem, according to House Republicans, who want to defund the GEC.

Some of these documents were obtained by @dcexaminer through the Freedom of Information Act, and others are cited in a new report by Congress. 3/4

Read 4 tweets

Gabe Kaminsky

@gekaminsky

Jun 17, 2024

EXCLUSIVE: Biden’s State Department is now facing a congressional subpoena for failing to turn over documents on ‘censorship-by-proxy’ funding to outside organizations, @dcexaminer has learned 🧵1/4

The subpoena, served to State’s Global Engagement Center from House Republicans, demanded sprawling records by June 27

It’s the latest development in a House investigation launched after @dcexaminer reports on the Global Disinformation Index blacklisting conservative media. 2/4

The subpoena comes as State’s GEC may lose funding via Congress over the $100K Global Disinformation Index grant and others lawmakers say promoted widespread censorship of disfavored speech.

@FDRLST and @realdailywire are suing GEC over the ‘disinfo’ programs 3/4

Read 4 tweets

Gabe Kaminsky

@gekaminsky

Apr 11, 2024

SCOOP: The Department of Homeland Security/its CISA had privately "recommended" the State Department contact the Election Integrity Partnership, which worked to suppress speech on social media before the 2020 presidential election, according to internal emails

When did State Global Engagement Center reach out to EIP — which it helped flag "misinformation" posts to social media platforms?

. . . Just hours after @nypost's bombshell Hunter Biden story suppressed by Twitter, a key partner of EIP, on Oct. 14, 2020

cc @EmmaJoNYC

The unearthed coordination between DHS/State on EIP raises further concerns to Republicans, including on @JudiciaryGOP, about why a foreign-focused agency in the GEC would ever get involved in the EIP.

The EIP worked to systemically suppress posts by Trump/other Republicans

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