Thread by @carolecadwalla

So. One day ahead of publication, Squire Patton & Boggs, lawyers for Cambridge Analytica, drop @guardian a line....

.@guardian And, you know what, they're right. "It clearly annoys Ms Cadwalladr...that the referendum resulted in victory for the Brexit campaign..."

.@guardian But, you see, that's not the problem. The problem is that evidence - that we publish today - of co-ordination between referendum campaigns..

.@guardian Documentary evidence that ties Farage's @LeaveEUOfficial campaign to Boris's official @vote_leave. They hated each other. Supposedly.

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave And co-ordination between the two campaigns would be illegal if proven. So.Squire, Patton & Boggs to drop @guardian a line....

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave More precisely, Squire, Patton & Boggs drop @guardian a "Pre-Action Protocol for Defamation". Which is, you, know, pretty serious....

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave ..& bit scary. Cambridge Analytica is owned by a billionaire - Robert Mercer. The man who bankrolled Trump...
theguardian.com/politics/2017/…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave So this is the context in which we publish article today. A leaked document that shows how @vote_leave and @LeaveEUOfficial were connected..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave It's a follow-up of last week's article. Which Squire, Patton & Boggs didn't much like either. Or @LeaveEUOfficial..
theguardian.com/technology/201…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave I'm a "mad woman" peddling "conspiracy"..

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.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave Recap: this article from Feb triggered 2 legal investigations by @ElectoralCommUK & @ICOnews into @LeaveEUOfficial
theguardian.com/politics/2017/…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews That was start of #BrexitQuestions. Cambridge Analytica "helped" @LeaveEUOfficial because "Nigel was a good friend of the Mercers"....

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews Because - new fun fact - UKIP's general secretary, Matthew Richardson, also happens to be the Mercers' lawyer. So @LeaveEUOfficial tells me.

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews And that's when things start getting, like, totes weird. Because @LeaveEUOfficial and @CamAnalytica never hid fact they worked together...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica "The Science Behind Our Strategy" @LeaveEUOfficial website. Deleted since. But, know, there's this archive thing..

archive.fo/rN22u

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica And here's Alexander Nix, CEO of Cambridge Analytica, telling @Campaignmag about their work for @LeaveEUOfficial

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag (FYI Nix wasn't the actual boss of Cambridge Analytica at the time. That was Steve Bannon. Now chief strategist to @realDonaldTrump)

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump And here's @Arron_banks - man who founded @LeaveEUOfficial & bankrolled Brexit. March, 2017: "We made no secret of working with Cambridge"..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks Recap on @Arron_banks': holds Belize diplomatic passport, has a zillion companies somewhere offshore, loves Putin

theguardian.com/politics/2017/…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks And yet, here is @Arron_banks this week saying, actually, no we never did work with Cambridge Analytica...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks And here is Cambridge Analytica saying, no, we never actually worked for @LeaveEUOfficial

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks And here is @LeaveEUOfficial launch. With Cambridge Analytica's Brittany Kaiser sitting next to @Arron_banks..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks Cambridge Analytica employee actually on the official panel at the official launch as @LeaveEUOfficial Director of Program Development...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks Thing is IF Cambridge Analytica did "help" @LeaveEUOfficial (as they said they did), that would be illegal...
#BrexitQuestions

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks ..an "impermissible" donation. A foreign billionaire buying influence in a UK election. But today we publish more. More #BrexitQuestions...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks But first. A recap. Remember how @vote_leave & @LeaveEUOfficial? How they hated each other? Nige had his refugees. Boris had NHS "promise"

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks So. They did hate each other. I think that is accepted. No love lost certainly with @vote_leave 's chief strategist Dominic Cummings..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks V.diff strategies. @vote_leave targeted middle England. @LeaveEUOfficial went for UKIP-ers & core Labour. Refused to share a platform...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks And if we believe leaked emails from Steve Baker, MP, Vote Leave already had a top-secret co-ordination plan...
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks Quick re-cap on the law: it is illegal for campaigns to co-ordinate - unless they declare expenditure jointly. (They didn't.)

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks And here is Dominic Cummings' good pal, @ShippersUnbound, writing about how this worked in his Brexit book, All Out War...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound Poor Darren Grimes. A fashion student. Helping out at @vote_leave HQ. "Oi, Grimes. Want £625,000 to buy some ads?"
buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/vo…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound What they maybe don't tell Darren is that - remember! - co-ordination between campaigns is illegal. Oh yes & sharing data. Without consent

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound So, all this, has been documented ad infinitum. Dossier of evidence sent to @ElectoralCommUK & @cpsuk & @metpoliceuk....

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk Evidence of grounds to investigate: illegal campaign co-ordination, illegal sharing of data, illegal foreign or "impermissible" donations...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk But no ball. @cpsuk & @metpoliceuk say it's up to @ElectoralCommUK. Which would be, you know, fine. But just one teeny tiny problem...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk This all happened offshore. It's.....drum roll!....outside British jurisdiction

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk Were British laws broken by British people in British referendum to change British constitution? No way to know because...firm is in Canada!

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk Only, it doesn't end there. Today @guardian publishes new, unanswered and profoundly troubling #BrexitQuestions

theguardian.com/technology/201…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk This might not look like much of a smoking gun but it places US billionaire & Trump donor Robert Mercer bang smack in the middle of Brexit..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk Remember how Robert Mercer owns @CamAnalytica ? Who "helped" @LeaveEUOfficial? Run by @SteveKBannon, chief strategist to @realDonaldTrump?

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon Turns out he also owns IP - intellectual property - of @aggregateIQ the Canadian firm hired by @vote_leave. AND they share a database!

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ This is OFFICIAL @vote_leave campaign. Which spent taxpayer money in most important vote we'll ever have.Refusing to answer #BrexitQuestions

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ Such as:
Why was this relationship hidden? That's what Gavin Millar, QC, leading expert on electoral law wants to know...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ Why did @Vote_Leave choose a company 5,000 miles away? Which at the time didn't even have a website? That's @Martinjemoore's question..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore Cummings found firm "on the internet". Ok, Dom. Whatevs. Here, btw, are 2 members of core @Vote_leave who used to work for @CamAnalytica

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore .@Vote_Leave strategist, Cummings & I do agree on one point, however...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore During EUref @CamAnalytica and @aggregateIQ were working together every day. Paid for by Robert Mercer PACs to work for Ted Cruz campaign..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore .@CamAnalytica & @aggregateIQ shared a database at this time. Loving this, btw, from Squire, Patton & Boggs. When was EUref again?

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore But what is not clear at all to me is who knew what. Dominic Cummings very cross with me. He knew nothing...

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore And I found this genuinely disturbing. Veterans for Britain, one of 5 Leave campaigns involved. And they really seem to have had no clue.

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore But he's right. Not a "conspiracy". Wrong word. More like...a "plan"? And...if so, the biggest of all #BrexitQuestions, whose?

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore Britain was the "petri dish" for America. That's what @andywigmore of @LeaveEUOfficial told me. Brexit was the dry run for Trump.

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore @andywigmore "Follow the data," @LeaveEU strategist said.
So, I did.
You know where it led?
To a shit load of questions.
theguardian.com/technology/201…

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore @andywigmore @leaveeu And no answers. This all happened offshore. To be clear: UK laws unable to hold UK campaigns to account for UK referendum about UK future.

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore @andywigmore @leaveeu The influence of a US billionaire in a UK election "absolutely unprecedented" says Gavin Millar, QC. Only way to find truth: public inquiry

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore @andywigmore @leaveeu And to be quite, quite clear, I am not accusing Robert Mercer whose firm, yesterday, threatened a suit against @guardian of an illegal act..

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore @andywigmore @leaveeu There's NOTHING illegal about subverting democracy. It wd just be...you know, bad form. For us. The British people. Who Took Back Control.

.@guardian @LeaveEUOfficial @vote_leave @ElectoralCommUK @ICOnews @CamAnalytica @Campaignmag @realDonaldTrump @Arron_banks @ShippersUnbound @cpsuk @metpoliceuk @SteveKBannon @AggregateIQ @martinjemoore @andywigmore @leaveeu Over & out. With big thanks to 3 v. brave sources, Team Special Ops @ObsNewReview & amazing @podehaye who is fighting big tech for yr data..