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Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
@RVAwonk
Jan 18, 2018 • 10 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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The FBI is investigating whether Alexander Torshin, a top Russian banker (known as the "Russian godfather"), illegally funneled money to the NRA to help Trump win.

(The NRA spent $30 million to support Trump — 3X what they gave to Romney's 2012 campaign)

mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-wo…
<quick thread>
A bit of background info on Alexander Torshin, the Russian bank exec and suspected mobster/organized crime boss who is now being investigated for potentially funneling $ through the NRA to help Trump's campaign. (That's him at the 2016 NRA convention👇).

/1/ Image
According to intel assessments, Torshin is part of a years-long "aggressive Kremlin effort to forge alliances" w/top GOP figures, including those close to the WH. The NRA is a major conduit of influence here... and possibly also a cash conduit.

/2/
Trump was set to meet with Alexander Torshin in February before the National Prayer Breakfast. The meeting was canceled the night before when an NSC staffer blew the whistle and flagged Torshin as a potential Russian mobster...

/3/
In Nov., @NBCNews reported that Jared Kushner failed to disclose what lawmakers called a "Russian backdoor overture & dinner invite" from Alexander Torshin.

Torshin wanted Trump to attend an event at the NRA's May 2016 convention in Louisville, KY.

/4/
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/k…
The undisclosed email chain suggested that Torshin "was seeking to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official during the NRA convention, and that he may have had a message for Trump from Putin."

/5/
Also in Nov., Don Jr admitted that he met with Torshin at a private dinner at the NRA's 2016 convention — just as Torshin requested in the (undisclosed) emails to Kushner (in which he said he wanted to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official).

/6/
Torshin and Trump have reportedly known each other since at least 2012. According to Bloomberg, the two "had a jovial exchange at the NRA convention in Tennessee in 2015."

...interesting how this keeps circling back to the NRA, isn't it?

/7/
Another key figure in the Torshin-NRA-Trump nexus: Torshin's "special assistant" Maria Butina, who attended one of Trump's first campaign events in April 2015 — during which Trump signaled his willingness to lift sanctions on Russia.

/8/
Here's Trump in 2015, suggesting to Maria Butina (Russian crime boss Alexander Torshin's special assistant) that he would lift sanctions on Russia.

"I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin... I don't think you'd need the sanctions."

/9/

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More from @RVAwonk

Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Jun 27
When Tulsi Gabbard recently released intelligence documents pertaining to biolabs, she claimed they contained “never before seen” intelligence. But the thing is, some of those very same documents *had* been seen before — in a 2022 Russian disinformation campaign.

Link below. Image
In 2022, Russia included much of the same “never before seen” intelligence in a presentation to the UN meant to justify its illegal invasion of Ukraine. It was part of an expansive disinformation campaign that Tulsi Gabbard revived four years later.

Link:
open.substack.com/pub/weaponized…
The documents from the Russian disinformation campaign are on the left. The “never before seen” US intelligence documents released by Tulsi Gabbard are on the right.

They’re the same. Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Jun 23
I’ve been investigating inauthentic online activity around Tulsi Gabbard for 7 years, and now hundreds of pages of leaked documents confirm much of what I found: that a network of fake accounts has been working for years to boost Gabbard and attack her critics.

My latest: Image
Members of the cult Gabbard was raised in have been using fake social media accounts to attack her critics & inflate her popularity online — a campaign that Gabbard herself was not only aware of, but also reportedly participated in.

Full article: weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/tulsi-gabbar…
I first discovered Gabbard’s “online army” 7 years ago, when they were boosting her as a presidential candidate. Her online popularity always seemed excessive to me, and I wanted to find out why. I soon found the answer.
x.com/rvawonk/status… x.com/rvawonk/status…
Read 9 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
May 27
New leaked documents suggest the Trump admin has quietly co-opted tools — some w/ military capabilities — that were once justified in the name of protecting Americans from foreign influence, and turned them inward to map, monitor, & target U.S. political dissidents. Link below.
The leaked docs allege that the White House is working w/ an org called Vine and Fig Tree Institute to surveil, profile, & “go after” critics of Trump and Israel, using tactics such as burner accounts, AI content, & character assassination.

Details here: weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/leaked-docs-…Image
The targets described in the leaked docs include a number of right-wing influencers and members of the “dissident right,” including Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes.

They also reveal that the entire Nick Shirley thing was orchestrated by the White House.
Read 9 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Mar 16
The Texas “antifa” terrorism case didn’t start in a courtroom or an ICE facility. It started almost 10 years earlier, with one of the most expansive disinformation campaigns I’ve ever covered.

Here’s how that story was built.

(Link in next tweet). Image
This is part 1 of a series looking back at a decade-long effort by the Trump administration and its allies in right-wing media to criminalize dissent by manufacturing a terrorist threat. They got their strategy straight from the fascist playbook.

weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/how-the-trum…Image
This disinformation campaign had it all: Fake social media accounts, right-wing extremists posing as “antifa” to incite violence, coordinated media narratives, fear-mongering content planted by law enforcement, and more.

Now, the threat they manufactured is being used as evidence in federal court. The Texas case is the first but certainly won’t be the last.
Read 4 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Jan 24
Given current events, it bears repeating that when the Trump admin spreads disinformation, they’re not doing it because they expect you to accept their lies as truth. They do it to erode the notion of truth and destroy our ability to distinguish between truth & falsehood.
The act of lying is bad enough. But selling the idea that truth doesn't matter — or doesn't even exist — is far more corrosive. Democracy rests upon a shared understanding of basic facts. We can't debate issues or hold leaders accountable w/o these agreed upon facts.
If the Trump administration can cast doubt on the very existence of an objective truth, they can also undermine the external mechanisms that we rely on to hold government officials accountable & prevent abuses of power.
Read 7 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Jan 1
I wrote about Nick Shirley’s bullsh*t video and the disinformation tactics he used to make it go viral. 🧵

Link in comments below. Image
Please give it a read and consider becoming a free or paid subscriber so you can get more content like this!
weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/nick-shirley…
You’ve probably seen Nick Shirley’s video accusing Somali-run daycares in Minnesota of fraud. Hopefully you’ve also seen some of the follow-ups showing that security footage & operating hours disprove his central claim of “no children.”

It went viral anyway. Let’s discuss why… Image
Read 11 tweets

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