Over Twitter, Kremlin Pushed for Memo Release

[struggle4progress]

By Davis Richardson • 02/08/18 1:34pm

... #ReleasetheMemo started trending over Twitter on January 18 after House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) claimed to possess a memo proving the FBI unlawfully targeted President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Although the campaign to release the memo emerged from the United States—and was pushed heavily by GOP lawmakers such as Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)—it saw a social media spike on January 19 from accounts linked to Russia ...

"We start with accounts that have overtly pro-Kremlin positions. That starts with RT and Sputnik, but also individual figures we know who have clear links to the Kremlin," explained Schafer. “Then beneath that, most of the other accounts serve to boast the signals of those top accounts. These include bots, trolls and real people… We’re looking for the accounts that have the most influence and most consistently retweet the messages from that first level of accounts" ...

Although it is rare for a single hashtag like #ReleasetheMemo to take off in the network, a cluster adhering to a similar theme points to coordinated activity. Over the weekend, repeated hashtags against a U.S. 'deep state' appeared: #fisagate, #obamadeepstate, #wethepeopledemandjustice, #thememorevealsthecoup and #obamaslegacyisobamagate ...

http://observer.com/2018/02/kremlin-pushed-nunes-memo-release-twitter/

[struggle4progress]

1. Memo would be laughable if it weren't dangerous

By The Charlotte Observer
Feb 8, 2018 Updated 3 hrs ago

... We’re ... underwhelmed. There was no blockbuster in the four pages released by the House Intelligence Committee last Friday. What those pages contained instead was an allegation that the FBI obtained a FISA surveillance warrant on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page based on information supplied by a source who didn’t like Donald Trump.

Even that allegation might not be true. The FBI says the memo is rife with inaccuracies. So do Democrats in a rebuttal memo. Also left out was any supporting documentation, such as the actual FISA application. Instead, what America got was speculation without evidence, accusations without facts, about a small part of a massive Russia investigation ...

This is what Republicans thought was worth risking the good name of the FBI and its agents. This is what Donald Trump thought was worth further corroding his relationship with the nation’s law enforcement agencies ...

... the memo reminded us ... that House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes is a bumbling Trump sycophant who already had to step away from the Russia investigation once and now should be relieved of his chairmanship ...

http://www.sentinelsource.com/opinion/op-ed/nunes-memo-would-be-laughable-if-it-weren-t-dangerous/article_45336182-c0c7-595f-aac8-b37f8415eba8.html

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Russia is attacking our elections now and WH refuses to acknowledge they are

WH is actively engaged in TREASON now, today, right now.

[struggle4progress]

3. Partisan bomb obscures deeper failure

By Samantha Vinograd, CNN National Security Analyst, and Julian Zelizer, CNN Political Analyst
Updated 3:47 PM ET, Thu February 8, 2018

... The memos have become the big story in Washington, one that has obscured the fact that Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI), has wasted an extraordinary amount of time, attention and resources on alleged abuses by the FBI -- instead of doing his job.

That isn't to downplay the importance of getting the Democrats' memo out -- the misinformation spread by the Nunes memo needs a response. But both of these memos are tactical diversions from the actual work that Chairman Nunes should be doing with his committee members.

Nunes perhaps purposefully moved his committee in the exact wrong direction with the release of the infamous memo about Christopher Steele's dossier.

With every second that HPSCI spends on the memos, it is just a fact that they're spending less time on key national security work, the committee's actual mission ...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/08/opinions/nunes-memo-house-intelligence-priorities-vinograd-zelizer-opinion/index.html

[struggle4progress]

4. Bee slams Nunes for upcoming memos

BY ANNA MENTA ON 2/8/18 AT 11:46 AM

... "This scandal is bigger than 100 Bill Clintons having sex with a thousand Watergates and a million Area 51s!" ...

This weekend, Nunes .. revealed plans to release even more memos, possibly up to five ...

"Get ready for a state department memo, a Hillary Clinton memo, Nunes Memo: Tokyo Drift, NMVP: Nunes Memo vs. Predator and for the kids, Nunes Memo: The Squeakquel" ...

http://www.newsweek.com/samantha-bee-devon-nunes-memo-801505