The scheme as outlined was absurd but it certainly muddies the waters and sets the stage for including Alabama in a set of special elections.
It is almost as if one part argued falsely that Russian interference lost the election in 2016 and then another part said this must work and tried it on. They obviously deserve each other.
In the meantime Moore was taken down by sexual narratives that objectively appear contrived as was also applied against Kavanaugh..
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Democratic operatives created fake Russian bots designed to link Kremlin to Roy Moore in Alabama race
Democratic operatives created fake Russian bots to link Russia to Roy Moore in Alabama election
Jones said Thursday he is "outraged" over the report and wants a federal investigation over the project.
Democratic
operatives created fake Russian bots on Facebook and Twitter designed
to connect the Roy Moore campaign to Russia in the Alabama election.
Democratic
operatives, backed by a liberal billionaire and facilitated by a former
Obama official, created thousands of fake Russian accounts to give an
impression the Russian government was supporting Alabama Republican Roy
Moore in last year’s election against now-Sen. Doug Jones.
The secret project, which had a budget of just $100,000 and was carried out on Facebook and Twitter, was revealed after the New York Times obtained an internal report detailing the efforts.
“We
orchestrated an elaborate ‘false flag’ operation that planted the idea
that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian
botnet,” the internal report said. It also took credit for “radicalizing
Democrats with a Russian bot scandal” after experimenting “with many of
the tactics now understood to have influenced the 2016 elections.”
"I'd
like to see the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department
look at this to see if there were any laws being violated and, if there
were, prosecute those responsible," he said. "These authorities need to
use this example right now to start setting the course for the future to
let people know that this is not acceptable in the United States of
America."
"We orchestrated an elaborate ‘false flag’ operation that planted the idea that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet."
One
participant in the project reportedly was Jonathon Morgan, the chief
executive of New Knowledge, a firm that wrote a report – released by the
Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this week – about Russia’s social
media operations in the 2016 election and its efforts to hurt Hillary
Clinton and help Donald Trump.
He reportedly contacted Renée
DiResta, who later joined his company and became the leading author of
the report about the Russian interference efforts for the firm, asking
for suggestions of online tactics that are worth testing.
In a
statement on Twitter, he denied the project was aimed at influencing the
election, which the Democrat won by 22,000 votes. "I did not
participate in any campaign to influence the public," he wrote, saying
the project goals weren't about supporting the Jones campaign.
The Senate Intelligence Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
The
Alabama project was funded by liberal billionaire and LinkedIn
co-founder Reid Hoffman who gave $100,000 to the cause, according to the
Times. Hoffman is one of Silicon Valley’s top donors to the Democrats,
donating $7 million to various groups and campaigns in the last election
cycle.
The money trickled down through American Engagement
Technologies, a firm run by Mikey Dickerson who was appointed by former
President Barack Obama to lead the newly-created United States Digital
Service.
Dickerson did not reply to Fox News’ immediate request for a comment.
The money trickled down through American Engagement Technologies, a
firm run by Mikey Dickerson who was appointed by former President
Barack Obama to lead the newly-created United States Digital Service.
(YouTube/)
The
Democratic operatives then created a Facebook page and imitated
conservative Alabamians who weren’t satisfied with the Republican
candidate while encouraging others to write in another candidate.
The
project also involved creating thousands of fake Russian accounts on
Twitter that began following Moore. This effort attracted attention from
local and national media, falsely suggesting Russia is backing Moore’s
candidacy.
“Russian invasion? Roy Moore sees spike in Twitter
followers from land of Putin,” read the headline of an article at The
Montgomery Advertiser, just months before the election night. Other
outlets shortly picked up the story.
“Russian invasion? Roy Moore sees spike in Twitter followers from
land of Putin,” read the headline of an article at The Montgomery
Advertiser, just months before the election night. Other outlets shortly
picked up the story.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, pointed out
that the Moore campaign accused the Jones campaign and Democratic
operatives of “pulling a political stunt on Twitter and alerting their
friends in the media.
Moore's bid for Senate was later clouded by
allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct with teenage girls while he
was in his 30s. One woman alleged that Moore had her touch him in
private areas when she was just 14.
It remains unclear if the Facebook page or the fake Russian accounts amplified the allegations on social media.
Jones
went on to win against the embattled Republican, who lost the support
of the party amid the allegations, becoming the first Democratic senator
from Alabama in more than 20 years.
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