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Ken Bensinger Profile picture
Ken Bensinger
@kenbensinger
Reporter for @nytpolitics; co-host of "The Michigan Plot" podcast - https://t.co/IPZRMwNYoU - ken.bensinger@nytimes.com - DMs open; ask for Signal
Don Heegel 🇺🇦 🌻 #🟦 Profile picture Potato Of Reason Profile picture 2 subscribed
Jun 12, 2023 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Social medial platform Gab is seeking to raise $5M in an SEC regulated crowdfunding effort.

Per the offering, the site, known for its far right users, has 5.94m registered users - well more than double those on Truth Social. Image Some interesting stuff in prospectus:

- estimates the global social media market worth $193B and will grow to $940B by 2026 (>4x growth)
- Gab says it's not just social media but seeks "to build a parallel internet and a parallel economy"
Mar 3, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Smack in the middle of the 2nd FIFA trial - w/two ex-Fox officials as defendants - Mexican broadcaster Televisa has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing it of using bribes to win rights to the 2018-2030 World Cups.

reuters.com/article/televi… The settlement is particularly relevant because prosecutors allege Fox won rights to the 2018-26 World Cups thanks to relationships cultivated through bribery. Televisa, Fox and Globo were all accused of corruption by cooperator Alejandro Burzaco, who has twice testified
Feb 22, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
A bill was just introduced in FL that would massively overhaul libel laws in the state & potentially the country. It comes 2 weeks after Gov. DeSantis spoke out on defamation

Among other things, the bill, HB991, would gut the "actual malice" provision under NYT v Sullivan. Image I wrote about DeSantis' targeting of Sullivan last week, and how a growing number of Republicans are joining in efforts to roll back or overturn the landmark precedent. But this bill goes far beyond just that.

nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/…
Dec 15, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
The company that licensed Trump's image and likeness for the $99 NFT trading cards appears to be one founded in 2021 by former Trump advisor Nick Luna and current Trump lawyer John Marion.

Its mailing address is the same as the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Little is known about CIC, but a little digging shows that a manila folder seized from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI in August was marked "Serio Contract" and contained a contract with CIC Ventures and Gold Ventures, per a federal court filing.
Dec 15, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
So the questions are:

- who/what is NFT INT LLC?
- who/what is CIC Digital LLC?
- how can they make all these promises about access to Trump if this company or companies "is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump" ? ImageImage Quick skim of public records show an NFT International LLC registered in Wyoming in March 2021 and an NFT INT LLC registered in Delaware in in Feb 2022. Both using 3rd party firms to obscure ownership. ImageImage
Nov 29, 2022 • 23 tweets • 4 min read
🎶 Tim and Ye and Milo and Nick 🎶 Great origin story:

So Ye was talking to Trump and then Alex reached out to Ye and said he should get to know Milo. And then Milo said, hey you should get to know Nick!
Nov 28, 2022 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
Maricopa County's board of supervisors just started a meeting. People were lined up to get in & screaming the pledge of allegiance. Chair Bill Gates starts by warning people things should not get out of hand and they're limited to 2 minutes time.

IT'S ABOUT TO GET LIT Oh wait, in a potentially ingenious strategic move, the board first calls Steven Richer, the County Recorder, to describe in minute detail the voter registration and mail-in ballot verification process, potentially putting hostile elements into a stupor...
Nov 9, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: An Arizona judge just DENIED a GOP motion to keep polls in Maricopa county open for 3 extra hours because of the tabulations issues today. the Judge was not compelled by the RNC's arguments, noting that voters had several alternatives, including going to another polling place or putting the ballot in "box 3" for counting later. "No voters...have been prevented from submitting a ballot."
Nov 9, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Turns out issue in Maricopa is with printers that are NOT made by Dominion, per my reporting. The printers were incorrectly causing bad ink adhesion. In that sense, the Dominion tabulators worked correctly and didn't read what appeared to be bad ballots

nytimes.com/2022/11/08/us/… Maricopa has county-wide voting, so ballots are printed on-demand for each voter at the polling place. Some of the on-site printers (not made by Dominion) were not set correctly, leading to poor toner adhesion to the ballot paper. This could cause the ink to flake off.
Aug 18, 2022 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
I have a new job: covering conservative media and ideas for the @nytimes politics desk. I'm excited about this beat, which is important and complex and (I think) requires sensitivity and nuance at a critical time for this nation.

Please send me your ideas, tips, thoughts, etc! @nytimes I spent the past 8 years working on the investigations team @BuzzFeedNews under a series of fantastic editors & collaborating w/ some of the best folks in journalism. I'm particularly grateful to @semaforben @SchoofsFeed & @arielkaminer for their brilliant leadership.
Aug 16, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Interesting development: Brandon Caserta, one of 2 acquitted defendants in prior Whitmer kidnapping trial, has just asserted his intention to plead the Fifth if called to testify in the retrial.

Defense counsel had subpoenaed him as a potential witness. Image Caserta stood trial in March/April of this year &, along with Daniel Harris, was acquitted on all counts. The jury could not reach a verdict on Barry Croft and Adam Fox and so they face the retrial.
Aug 15, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: According to an FBI informant, the Michigan State Police allowed armed protesters into the Capitol in Lansing on April 30, 2020, at the specific request of the FBI, which wanted to "de-escalate" the situation. Dan Chappel, a confidential human source n the Gov. Whitmer kidnapping case, testified just now that he alerted his FBI handlers that he was concerned members of the Wolverine Watchmen, an armed militant group he had infiltrated, was preparing for violence outside the building.
Mar 31, 2022 • 34 tweets • 6 min read
BIG NEWS to start Day 13 of testimony in the Michigan Kidnap case: Daniel Harris, one of the four defendants in the case, is testifying.

Obviously that rarely happens in a criminal case. This could be interesting. His attorney, Julia Kelly, starts with some biographical background, discussing him entering the Marine Corps fresh out of high school in 2015. He left in 2019 and returned home to Lake Orion, MI, and said his parents treated him like he was still in HS>
Mar 30, 2022 • 49 tweets • 9 min read
It's day 12 of testimony in the Michigan Kidnap Case & Judge Jonker is pleased, once again, that everyone is on time & things can get off to a punctual start.

The govt calls an FBI agent from Delaware (Catherine Martinez) who helped w/ the search of Barry Croft's truck. It's a quick witness; she had a camera that night and photographed his tricorn hat, backpack, Hawaiian shirt, and Glock pistol & magazines. On cross she says there was a "green leafy substance" and smoking paraphernalia in the truck as well (but did not mention it on direct)
Mar 30, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Not so fast! Judge Amit Mehta has denied a joint request from defendants and prosecutors to delay the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial. It's set for July 11, but the parties asked to push it to Sept 26.

"A further delay...is not in the public interest." Defendants earlier this month claimed they needed more time because of the "herculean task" of managing all the evidence, and the DoJ seemed happy to support that claim.

Mar 30, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Stephen Robeson, the controversial confidential informant in the Michigan kidnap case, officially says he'll plead the fifth and is asking the court not to compel his testimony. Image This comes in response to a defense motion on Friday to compel him to testify about his role in the case, and following a DoJ reply that openly threatened to prosecute Robeson on multiple counts should he take the stand.

Mar 29, 2022 • 50 tweets • 9 min read
It's Day 11 of testimony in the Michigan kidnap case & before the jury comes in, Judge Jonker rules not to admit the 15 notebooks recovered from Daniel Harris' house on the day of his arrest. They date back to his military days; Jonker says it isn't property tied to to the case. The first witness is a continuation from yesterday: FBI agent Adam Ayriss, who interviewed Harris upon his arrest and also reviewed the contents of his cell phone. He discusses some of the messages, images, and other materials he found on the phone.
Mar 21, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Good morning from Day 5 of the Michigan Kidnap case. The confidential informant Dan Chappel is still testifying under direct examination from the prosecution. Focus is on time period after last training/surveillance and the Oct 2020 arrest. He'll face cross later this morning. Government's river of exhibits continues: 14 more in just half an hour, including vidoes, audios, and text messages that are all shown to the jury including one of Adam Fox testing a handheld taser/stun gun he allegedly acquired and calls between Dan and Fox.
Mar 11, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
A small observation about the Michigan kidnapping trial — and the paradoxes of the case — as it's playing out so far:

The DoJ has made a big deal about a meeting in Dublin, Ohio, on June 6, 2020, calling it the moment when the conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer first took root. 1/ The meeting, at a hotel, was attended by roughly 15 people from around the country, including two of the federal defendants (Barry Croft and Adam Fox).

It was chiefly organized by an FBI informant named Stephen Robeson. Here's some info on him 2/

buzzfeednews.com/article/kenben…
Mar 10, 2022 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
Day 2 of the Michigan kidnapping case begins 1 minute early. By 8:29 Jonker has the jury seated and the first witness (FBI agent Todd Reineick) on the stand again. Many, many exhibits of text messages and audio messages are being played for the jury between Fox and Croft saying nasty things about the government and a burning desire to do something.

Pro tip: don't write that stuff down or send voice messages. What's wrong with phone calls?
Mar 9, 2022 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Opening arguments are well underway in the Michigan kidnapping case. So far the jury has heard from AUSA (prosecutor) Jonathan Roth; Christopher Gibbons (representing Adam Fox); Julia Kelly (Daniel Harris); and Mike Hills (Brandon Caserta). No major revelations or facts outside what's already been public about this case so far. The big issue is that several defense attorneys have been admonished not to discuss govt inducement, because talk of entrapment has been banned from the first half of the trial.