I am going to take a 30 minute break and I will be back. This section is really important to me. Thank you for your patience.
I am sure that was longer than 30 minutes.
6. Targeting and Recruitment of U.S. Persons
As early as 2014, the IRA instructed its employees to target U.S. persons who could be used to advance it's operational goals.
This was a primary directive from the beginning. If one remembers their FORWARD persons began their planning in 2014. It was a two year lead in to the attack on the 2016 elections. The directive to involve Americans didn't occur because their covert operations were turning out well, it was the primary focus of the operation. In other words, the plans went well because estranging Americans was the plan from the beginning. This operation throughout it's entire existence, including any taking place now, was planned and carried out to the perfection they had.
Initially, recruitment focused on U. S. Persons who could amplify the content posted by the IRA.
Harm to Ongoing Matter
IRA employees frequently used Investigative Technique (a method) Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to contact and recruit U.S. persons who followed the group. The IRA recruited U.S. persons from across the spectrum. For example, the IRA targeted the family of Personal Privacy and a number of black social justice activists. while posing as a grassroots group called "Black Matters US." 89 In February 2017, the persona
"Black Fist" (purporting to want to teach African-Americans to protect themselves when contacted
by law enforcement) hired a self-defense instructor in New York to offer classes sponsored by
Black Fist. The IRA also recruited moderators of conservative social media groups to promote
IRA-generated content,90 as well as recruited individuals to perform political acts (such as walking
around New York City dressed up as Santa Claus with a Trump mask). 91
This is Russian Rubles talking. This is exactly why no one has a chance against the funding of a sovereign government. The government can fund any and every effort it cares to and gains influence with people. How many African Americans would not be interested in classes that teach them how to protect from contact with law enforcement? Russia could spend all the money it wanted so long as they were achieving their final goal, to estrange Americans from their government.
This is seriously important. Russia uses it's power to intimidate people into service for Russia. It is no different than the oligarchs that carry out horrible acts in the name of Russia. They go about their daily lives uninterrupted until Russia calls.
Every American involved with these groups were going to be used to agitate, grow unrest and build groups of people that would be willing to turn a civil society into warring factions.
I sincerely believe Americans have brushed this off as hacking as they have so many times before with credit agencies and the like. This is not the same kind of hacking. This is a planned assault by a sovereign power on the people of the USA to overthrow their government.
During 2016, I ran across a friend of a friend and we were playing "Scrabble." We started talking politics and she stated, "I want it all to end. I am so tired of all that the government of this country does wrong. I want to vote for Trump to end the way the establishment has power over us." No lie. I calmly pointed out we are a compassionate society interested in the well being of all our citizens and the government is an intricate part of our lives to carry out important laws and regulations. Well, I may as well have thrown gas on a burning fire and she told me she wanted everything to end. All of it. She wanted the USA Constitution to be pure again. She definitely was a Trumpie. I said, "You want Social Security to end?" She stated, "Yes." And I asked what she thought would come of the elderly in our society if all of a sudden there was no more Social Security? She looked at me and said, "Well. I guess I might be wrong about that."
Those are the people I believe were finding importance in messaging that was completely UnAmerican. She didn't get those ideas by herself. She felt confident in her own words and she expected her anger to vanquish my thoughts. When I didn't relent, she decided she might be wrong. She was influenced by powers outside the normal realm of politics. I am confident of it. It was only when she faced another person still believing what we do as compassionate Americans is important that she reflected on the idea of being compassionate. It was a true interaction and I believe her callous attitudes and ideas were directly from such undermining attempts by an alternative source of information, namely Russians. If the Russians were that successful in drumming up hate, they could do exactly as they planned to bring an end to the USA.
Footnote 86 The pro-Trump rallies were organized through multiple Facebook, Twitter, and email accounts.
See, e.g.,
Facebook ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber);
Facebook ID 1601685693432389 (Being
Patriotic);
Twitter Account @march_for_trump; beingpatriotic@gmail.com. (Rallies were organized in
New York on June 25, 2016; Florida on August 20, 2016; and Pennsylvania on October 2, 2016.)9
Footnote 87 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 88 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Harm of Onging Matter
92, 93, 94
as the IRA's online audience became larger, the IRA tracked U.S. persons with whom they communicated and had successfully tasked (with tasks ranging from organizing rallies to taking pictures with certain political messages).
Harm of Ongoing Matter
95
89 3/11/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6045078289928,
5/6/16 Facebook Advertisement ID
6051652423528,
10/26/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6055238604687;
10/27/16 Facebook Message, ID Personal Privacy & ID 100011698576461 (Taylor Brooks)
90 8/19/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID Personal Privacy
91 12/8/16 Email, robot@craigslist.org to beingpatriotic@gmail.com (confirming Craigslist
advertisement).
92 8/18-19/16 Twitter DMs, @march_for_trump & Personal Privacy
93 See, e.g., 11/11-26/16 Facebook Message ID 100011698576461 (Taylor Brooks) & ID Personal Privacy (arranging to pay for plane tickets and for a bull horn)
94 See, e.g., 9/10/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) & ID Personal Privacy (discussing payment for rally supplies); 8/18/16 Twitter DM, @march_for_trump to PP (discussing payment for construction materials).
95 Harm to Ongoing Matter
The people becoming involved with the Russians were going to have their lives changed forever if the FBI didn't stop them. There were all kinds of favors taking place, traveling in planes, providing supplies, etc. This movement the Russians were building was real to these Americans. They were finally seeing some type of real purpose to their political lives. They were status, or so they thought. They were becoming leaders. They were being recruited by Russians to carry out an overthrow of their government and they never knew. The FBI knew and ended the danger in those lives.
I am going to watch the evening news and catch up with texts. I will start again here:
7. Interactions and Contacts with the Trump Campaign
To be continued in a later entry.
Monday, July 08, 2019
Continued from previous entry
5. U.S. Operations in Political Rallies
The IRA organized and promoted political rallies inside the United States while posing as U.S. grassroots activists.
The deployment of the rallies were strategic and promoted before the actual individual notices went out. It was like an individual found a rally advertised and then invited people to attend.
First, the IRA used one of its preexisting social media personas (Facebook groups and Twitter accounts, for example) to announce and promote the event. The IRA then sent a large number of direct messages to followers of its social media account asking them to attend the event. From those who responded with interest in attending, the IRA then sought a U.S. person to serve as the event's coordinator. In most cases, the IRA account operator would tell the U.S. person that they personally could not attend the event due to some preexisting conflict or because they were somewhere else in the United States.82 The IRA then further promoted the event by contacting U.S. media about the event and directing them to speak with the coordinator.83 After the event, the IRA posted videos and photographs of the event to the IRA's social media accounts. 84
The Office identified dozens of U.S. rallies organized by the IRA. The earliest evidence of a rally was a "confederate rally" in November 2015. 85 The IRA continued to organize rallies even after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The attendance at rallies varied. Some rallies appear to have drawn few (if any) participants while others drew hundreds The reach and success of these rallies were closely monitored
Wow. The Russians were closely monitoring the response they received from White Supremacists/Nationalists. They want to inspire violence and a civil war within the USA.
It makes sense. Tell people there is a deep state and a woman that nearly made it to the White House is corrupt and untrustworthy and then portray Trump as a president under siege. It all works to instill hatred, anger and extreme nationalism. All Russia has to do is harness that energy and convert it to killing in the name of the USA Constitution and a return of a greater America.
That is why the rallies with more taking place after the election than before. Russia does not want to lose control of these people. They have the guns and the desire to revert the USA back to before the Civil War.
I can confidently say the very first Americans that would be rounded up, tried and hung would be the White Supremacists/Nationalists. Russia absolutely hates them.
No conqueror, like Russia, would allow those that executed the conquest to remain in power.
Harm to Ongoing Matter
80 Twitter, "Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election" (updated Jan. 31, 2018) (click here). Twitter also reported identifying 50,258 automated accounts connected to the Russian government, which tweeted more than a million times in the ten weeks before the election.
Talk about Robocalls. How about Robotweets?
81 Twitter, "Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election" (updated Jan. 31, 2018).
82 8/20/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID ...
83 See, e.g. , 7/21/16~gmail.com to ; 7/21/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to
Very cute. Number 024. Not even the original and only Josh Milton.
84 @march_for_trump 6/25/16 Tweet (posting photos from rally outside Trump Tower).
85 Instagram ID 2228012168 (Stand For Freedom) 11/3/15 Post ("Good evening buds! Well I am planning to organize a confederate rally[ . . . ] in Houston on the 14 of November and I want more people to attend.").
All this evidence is in a folder somewhere in the possession of the DOJ.
Page 30 is completely Harm to Ongoing Matter
Anyone falling for this poster was reacting to Russian propaganda. The Mitch McConnell paradigm. Miners. Coal. There has not been significant numbers of coal minors in decades. Every year that goes by there are less and less numbers because of AUTOMATION. This poster plugs right into Republican rhetoric, even though it is mostly deceitful.
Pennsylvania? That was one of the first places to have coal mining dry up. The anthracite mines were the first mines to run out of the rock.
They generated this poster from history. Somehow, having the rally was going to regrow rock, too.
From June 2016 until the end of the presidential campaign, almost all of the U.S. rallies organized by the IRA focused on the U.S. election, often promoting the Trump Campaign and opposing the Clinton Campaign. Pro-Trump rallies included three in New York; a series of pro-Trump rallies in Florida in August 2016; and a series of pro-Trump rallies in October 2016 in Pennsylvania. The Florida rallies drew the attention of the Trump Campaign, which MINERS FOR TRUMP posted about the Miami rally on candidate Trump's Facebook BRING BACK OUR JOBS account (as discussed below).86
Many of the same IRA employees that oversaw the IRA's social media accounts also conducted the day - to - day recruiting for political rallies inside the United States Harm of Ongoing Matter 87
Continued in next entry
The IRA organized and promoted political rallies inside the United States while posing as U.S. grassroots activists.
The deployment of the rallies were strategic and promoted before the actual individual notices went out. It was like an individual found a rally advertised and then invited people to attend.
First, the IRA used one of its preexisting social media personas (Facebook groups and Twitter accounts, for example) to announce and promote the event. The IRA then sent a large number of direct messages to followers of its social media account asking them to attend the event. From those who responded with interest in attending, the IRA then sought a U.S. person to serve as the event's coordinator. In most cases, the IRA account operator would tell the U.S. person that they personally could not attend the event due to some preexisting conflict or because they were somewhere else in the United States.82 The IRA then further promoted the event by contacting U.S. media about the event and directing them to speak with the coordinator.83 After the event, the IRA posted videos and photographs of the event to the IRA's social media accounts. 84
The Office identified dozens of U.S. rallies organized by the IRA. The earliest evidence of a rally was a "confederate rally" in November 2015. 85 The IRA continued to organize rallies even after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The attendance at rallies varied. Some rallies appear to have drawn few (if any) participants while others drew hundreds The reach and success of these rallies were closely monitored
Wow. The Russians were closely monitoring the response they received from White Supremacists/Nationalists. They want to inspire violence and a civil war within the USA.
It makes sense. Tell people there is a deep state and a woman that nearly made it to the White House is corrupt and untrustworthy and then portray Trump as a president under siege. It all works to instill hatred, anger and extreme nationalism. All Russia has to do is harness that energy and convert it to killing in the name of the USA Constitution and a return of a greater America.
That is why the rallies with more taking place after the election than before. Russia does not want to lose control of these people. They have the guns and the desire to revert the USA back to before the Civil War.
I can confidently say the very first Americans that would be rounded up, tried and hung would be the White Supremacists/Nationalists. Russia absolutely hates them.
No conqueror, like Russia, would allow those that executed the conquest to remain in power.
Harm to Ongoing Matter
80 Twitter, "Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election" (updated Jan. 31, 2018) (click here). Twitter also reported identifying 50,258 automated accounts connected to the Russian government, which tweeted more than a million times in the ten weeks before the election.
Talk about Robocalls. How about Robotweets?
81 Twitter, "Update on Twitter's Review of the 2016 US Election" (updated Jan. 31, 2018).
82 8/20/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID ...
83 See, e.g. , 7/21/16~gmail.com to ; 7/21/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to
Very cute. Number 024. Not even the original and only Josh Milton.
84 @march_for_trump 6/25/16 Tweet (posting photos from rally outside Trump Tower).
85 Instagram ID 2228012168 (Stand For Freedom) 11/3/15 Post ("Good evening buds! Well I am planning to organize a confederate rally[ . . . ] in Houston on the 14 of November and I want more people to attend.").
All this evidence is in a folder somewhere in the possession of the DOJ.
Page 30 is completely Harm to Ongoing Matter
Anyone falling for this poster was reacting to Russian propaganda. The Mitch McConnell paradigm. Miners. Coal. There has not been significant numbers of coal minors in decades. Every year that goes by there are less and less numbers because of AUTOMATION. This poster plugs right into Republican rhetoric, even though it is mostly deceitful.
Pennsylvania? That was one of the first places to have coal mining dry up. The anthracite mines were the first mines to run out of the rock.
They generated this poster from history. Somehow, having the rally was going to regrow rock, too.
From June 2016 until the end of the presidential campaign, almost all of the U.S. rallies organized by the IRA focused on the U.S. election, often promoting the Trump Campaign and opposing the Clinton Campaign. Pro-Trump rallies included three in New York; a series of pro-Trump rallies in Florida in August 2016; and a series of pro-Trump rallies in October 2016 in Pennsylvania. The Florida rallies drew the attention of the Trump Campaign, which MINERS FOR TRUMP posted about the Miami rally on candidate Trump's Facebook BRING BACK OUR JOBS account (as discussed below).86
Many of the same IRA employees that oversaw the IRA's social media accounts also conducted the day - to - day recruiting for political rallies inside the United States Harm of Ongoing Matter 87
Continued in next entry
Continued from previous entry
4. U.S. Operations through Twitter
A number of IRA employees assigned to the Translator Department served as Twitter specialists. Harm to Ongoing Matter
The IRA Twitter operations involved two strategies. First, IRA specialists operated certain Twitter accounts to create individual U.S. personas, Harm of Ongoing Matter 64 Separately, the IRA operated a network of automated Twitter accounts
(commonly referred to as a bot network) that enabled the IRA to amplify existing content on Twitter.
a. Individualized Accounts
Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 61
See Facebook ID 1479936895656747 (United Muslims of America);
Facebook ID l 157233400960126 (Don't Shoot);
Facebook ID 1601685693432389 Bein Patriotic;
Facebook ID 757183957716200 Secured Borders).
Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 62 Social Media Influence in the 2016 US Election, Hearing Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 115th Cong. 13 (11/1/ 17) (testimony of Colin Stretch, General Counsel of Facebook).
NOVEMBER 1, 2017
Facebook, Google, and Twitter Executives on Russia Election Interference (click here)
The Senate Intelligence Committee held a hearing on Russia and social media influence in the 2016 election. Officials from Facebook, Twitter and Google testified about what their companies were doing to protect users after the 2016 election from misleading and malicious content. They shared what they have learned about the number of Russian-based fake accounts and the impact and reach of posts from those accounts on other users. Senators admonished the witnesses and their companies for not doing enough to understand the scope of the problem and said they needed to do more to prevent the dissemination of malicious content on their platforms.
Footnote 63 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 64 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 65 Harm to Ongoing Matter
The IRA operated individualized Twitter accounts similar to the operation of its Facebook accounts, by continuously posting original content to the accounts while also communicating with U.S. Twitter users directly (through public tweeting or Twitter's private messaging).
The IRA used many of these accounts to attempt to influence U.S. audiences on the election. Individualized accounts used to influence the U.S. presidential election included
@TEN_ GOP ( described above);
@jenn _ abrams ( claiming to be a Virginian Trump supporter with 70,000 followers);
@Pamela_Moore13 (claiming to be a Texan Trump supporter with 70,000 followers); and
@America:__Ist_ (an anti-immigration persona with 24,000 followers). 67
In May 2016, the IRA created the Twitter account @march_for_trump, which promoted IRA-organized rallies in support of the Trump Campaign (described below). 68
Using these accounts and others, the IRA provoked reactions from users and the media. Multiple IRA-posted tweets gained popularity.70 U.S. media outlets also quoted tweets from IRA-controlled accounts and attributed them to the reactions of real U.S. persons.71 Similarly, numerous high profile U.S. persons, including former Ambassador Michael McFaul (click here), 72 Roger Stone (click here),73 SeanHannity (click here),74 and Michael Flynn Jr. (click here),75 retweetcd or responded to tweets posted to these IRA controlled accounts. Multiple individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign also promoted IRA tweets (discussed below).
Footnote 66 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 67 Other individualized accounts included @MissouriNewsUS (an account with 3,800 followers that posted pro-Sanders and anti-Clinton material).
68 See @march_for_trump, 5/30/16 Tweet (first post from account).
69 Harm to Ongoing Matter
70 For example, one IRA account tweeted, "To those people, who hate the Confederate flag. Did you know that the flag and the war wasn't about slavery, it was all about money." The tweet received over 40,000 responses. @Jenn_Abrams 4/24/17 (2:37 p.m.) Tweet.
71 Josephine Lukito & Chris Wells, Most Major Outlets Have Used Russian Tweets as Sources f Sor Partisan Opinion:Study, Columbia Journalism Review (Mar. 8, 2018) (click here) ; see also Twitter Steps Up to Explain #NewYorkValues to Ted Cruz, Washington Post (Jan. 15, 2016) (citing IRA tweet) (click here) ; People Are Slamming the CIA/or Claiming Russia Tried to Help Donald Trump, U.S. News & World Report (Dec. 12, 2016) (click here for Guardian report.) (click here for an article on the proof)
b. IRA Botnet Activities
A bot is an autonomous program on a network (especially the Internet) that can interact with computer systems or users, especially one designed to respond or behave like a player in an adventure game.
A botnet is a number of Internet-connected devices, (click here) each of which is running one or more bots. Botnetscan be used to perform distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack), steal data, send spam, and allows the attacker to access the device and its connection.
Harm to Ongoing Matter
In January 2018, Twitter publicly identified 3,814 Twitter accounts associated with the IRA.79 According to Twitter, in the ten weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, these accounts posted approximately 175,993 tweets, "approximately 8.4% of which were election- ·related."80 Twitter also announced that it had notified approximately 1.4 million people who Twitter believed may have been in contact with an IRA-controlled account. 81
72 @Mcfaul 4/30/16 Tweet (responding to tweet by @Jenn_Abrams).
73 @RogerJStoneJr 5/30/16 Tweet (retweeting @Pamela_Moorel3); @RogerJStoneJr 4/26/16 Tweet (same).
74 @seanhannity 6/21/17 Tweet (retweeting @Pamela_ Moore 13).
75 @mflynnJR 6/22/17 Tweet ("RT@Jenn_Abrams: This is what happens when you add the voice over of an old documentary about mental illness onto video of SJWs ... ").
'
76 A botnet refers to a network of private computers or accounts controlled as a group to send specific automated messages. On the Twitter network, botnets can be used to promote and republish ("retweet") specific tweets or hashtags in order for them to gain larger audiences.
77 Harm to Ongoing Matter
78 Harm to Ongoing Matter
79 Eli Rosenberg, Twitter to Tell 677,000 Users they Were Had by the Russians. Some Signs Showthe Problem Continues, Washington Post (Jan. 19, 2019).
Continued in next entry
A number of IRA employees assigned to the Translator Department served as Twitter specialists. Harm to Ongoing Matter
The IRA Twitter operations involved two strategies. First, IRA specialists operated certain Twitter accounts to create individual U.S. personas, Harm of Ongoing Matter 64 Separately, the IRA operated a network of automated Twitter accounts
(commonly referred to as a bot network) that enabled the IRA to amplify existing content on Twitter.
a. Individualized Accounts
Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 61
See Facebook ID 1479936895656747 (United Muslims of America);
Facebook ID l 157233400960126 (Don't Shoot);
Facebook ID 1601685693432389 Bein Patriotic;
Facebook ID 757183957716200 Secured Borders).
Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 62 Social Media Influence in the 2016 US Election, Hearing Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 115th Cong. 13 (11/1/ 17) (testimony of Colin Stretch, General Counsel of Facebook).
NOVEMBER 1, 2017
Facebook, Google, and Twitter Executives on Russia Election Interference (click here)
The Senate Intelligence Committee held a hearing on Russia and social media influence in the 2016 election. Officials from Facebook, Twitter and Google testified about what their companies were doing to protect users after the 2016 election from misleading and malicious content. They shared what they have learned about the number of Russian-based fake accounts and the impact and reach of posts from those accounts on other users. Senators admonished the witnesses and their companies for not doing enough to understand the scope of the problem and said they needed to do more to prevent the dissemination of malicious content on their platforms.
Footnote 63 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 64 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 65 Harm to Ongoing Matter
The IRA operated individualized Twitter accounts similar to the operation of its Facebook accounts, by continuously posting original content to the accounts while also communicating with U.S. Twitter users directly (through public tweeting or Twitter's private messaging).
The IRA used many of these accounts to attempt to influence U.S. audiences on the election. Individualized accounts used to influence the U.S. presidential election included
@TEN_ GOP ( described above);
@jenn _ abrams ( claiming to be a Virginian Trump supporter with 70,000 followers);
@Pamela_Moore13 (claiming to be a Texan Trump supporter with 70,000 followers); and
@America:__Ist_ (an anti-immigration persona with 24,000 followers). 67
In May 2016, the IRA created the Twitter account @march_for_trump, which promoted IRA-organized rallies in support of the Trump Campaign (described below). 68
Using these accounts and others, the IRA provoked reactions from users and the media. Multiple IRA-posted tweets gained popularity.70 U.S. media outlets also quoted tweets from IRA-controlled accounts and attributed them to the reactions of real U.S. persons.71 Similarly, numerous high profile U.S. persons, including former Ambassador Michael McFaul (click here), 72 Roger Stone (click here),73 SeanHannity (click here),74 and Michael Flynn Jr. (click here),75 retweetcd or responded to tweets posted to these IRA controlled accounts. Multiple individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign also promoted IRA tweets (discussed below).
Footnote 66 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 67 Other individualized accounts included @MissouriNewsUS (an account with 3,800 followers that posted pro-Sanders and anti-Clinton material).
68 See @march_for_trump, 5/30/16 Tweet (first post from account).
69 Harm to Ongoing Matter
70 For example, one IRA account tweeted, "To those people, who hate the Confederate flag. Did you know that the flag and the war wasn't about slavery, it was all about money." The tweet received over 40,000 responses. @Jenn_Abrams 4/24/17 (2:37 p.m.) Tweet.
71 Josephine Lukito & Chris Wells, Most Major Outlets Have Used Russian Tweets as Sources f Sor Partisan Opinion:Study, Columbia Journalism Review (Mar. 8, 2018) (click here) ; see also Twitter Steps Up to Explain #NewYorkValues to Ted Cruz, Washington Post (Jan. 15, 2016) (citing IRA tweet) (click here) ; People Are Slamming the CIA/or Claiming Russia Tried to Help Donald Trump, U.S. News & World Report (Dec. 12, 2016) (click here for Guardian report.) (click here for an article on the proof)
b. IRA Botnet Activities
A bot is an autonomous program on a network (especially the Internet) that can interact with computer systems or users, especially one designed to respond or behave like a player in an adventure game.
A botnet is a number of Internet-connected devices, (click here) each of which is running one or more bots. Botnetscan be used to perform distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack), steal data, send spam, and allows the attacker to access the device and its connection.
Harm to Ongoing Matter
In January 2018, Twitter publicly identified 3,814 Twitter accounts associated with the IRA.79 According to Twitter, in the ten weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, these accounts posted approximately 175,993 tweets, "approximately 8.4% of which were election- ·related."80 Twitter also announced that it had notified approximately 1.4 million people who Twitter believed may have been in contact with an IRA-controlled account. 81
72 @Mcfaul 4/30/16 Tweet (responding to tweet by @Jenn_Abrams).
73 @RogerJStoneJr 5/30/16 Tweet (retweeting @Pamela_Moorel3); @RogerJStoneJr 4/26/16 Tweet (same).
74 @seanhannity 6/21/17 Tweet (retweeting @Pamela_ Moore 13).
75 @mflynnJR 6/22/17 Tweet ("RT@Jenn_Abrams: This is what happens when you add the voice over of an old documentary about mental illness onto video of SJWs ... ").
'
76 A botnet refers to a network of private computers or accounts controlled as a group to send specific automated messages. On the Twitter network, botnets can be used to promote and republish ("retweet") specific tweets or hashtags in order for them to gain larger audiences.
77 Harm to Ongoing Matter
78 Harm to Ongoing Matter
79 Eli Rosenberg, Twitter to Tell 677,000 Users they Were Had by the Russians. Some Signs Showthe Problem Continues, Washington Post (Jan. 19, 2019).
Continued in next entry
Continued from previous entry
Footnote 55 5/31/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID Harm to Ongoing Matter
There is no Matt Skiber at ID 100009922908461 except at Facebook and in the report of the Special Counsel.
5/31/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID
What is really troubling is that these political right wing groups organize under USA law 501(c)4. They take in money to carry out some kind of advocacy. Then a Russian entity comes along and they don't even question the idea that someone is using their name and quite possibly making money doing it. They never filed complaints that most people are aware of and they simply continue to exist collecting Koch money.
Footnote 56
Social Media Influence in the 2016 US. Election, (click here for transcript) Hearing Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 115th Cong. 13 (11/1/17) (testimony of Colin Stretch, General Counsel of Facebook).
- Impressions (an “impression” is how we count the number of times something is on screen, for example this can be the number of times something was on screen in a person’s News Feed):
44% of total ad impressions were before the US election on November 8, 2016. 56% of total ad impressions were after the election.
That is amazing. The Russians had built momentum during the 2016 elections and they did not want to lose it. Why, why were Russians continuing to hold onto it's activities AFTER the elections were in? They have an agenda. They STILL TODAY have an agenda. The Russians invaded this country through cyber warfare and even today have an agenda to carry out for their favorite leader, Putin. And Barr withdrew from the prosecution of these people. He is such a Trump puppet that he is a danger to the USA national defense.
Roughly 25% of the ads were never shown to anyone. That’s because advertising auctions are designed so that ads reach people based on relevance, and certain ads may not reach anyone as a result.
Only 25 percent of RUSSIAN agents' ads were a failure. That's not bad considering these are Russians composing them.
These agents know what they are doing.
Amount spent on ads: For 50% of the ads, less than $3 was spent.
For 99% of the ads, less than $1,000 was spent.
Many of the ads were paid for in Russian currency, though currency alone is a weak signal for suspicious activity.
Excuse me? Russian currency is basically worthless and yet Facebook decided it was good enough for the Facebook treasury. And it wasn't suspicious? THEN WHAT DOES FACEBOOK CALL SUSPICIOUS!
Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights. o A number of the ads encourage people to follow Pages on these issues, which in turn produced posts on similarly charged subjects
Okay, this is disgusting. The ads were political in nature and paid for with Russian currency. I think that clearly is a definition called suspicious. Here again no red flags. No one THINKING for a living. And the Russians are celebrating with a rally where The Chef's name is on banners for his birthday.
You know, Zukerberg goes to Russia and China and all those countries that aren't free and open democracies hoping to be a ray of hope to the people there and inspire new thinking about democracy and YET, he doesn't do a darn thing to protect the democracy that provided the freedom for him to design, grow and provide him with vast wealth. There is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
Facebook is a global organization and it needs it's own intelligence officers that work hand in hand with the FBI and CIA.
Footnote 57 3/18/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6045505152575.
Footnote 58 4/6/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6043740225319
.
Footnote 59 See SM-2230634, serial 213 (documenting politically-oriented advertisements from the larger set provided by Facebook).
Foonote 60 4/19/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6045151094235.
Best I can tell these four footnotes identify specific ad IDs and are among the items in the evidence file with this report.
Collectively, the IRA's social media accounts reached tens of millions of U.S. persons. Individual IRA social media accounts attracted hundreds of thousands of followers. For example, at the time they were deactivated by Facebook in mid-2017, the IRA's "United Muslims of America" Facebook group had over 300,000 followers, the "Don't Shoot Us" Facebook group had over 250,000 followers, the "Being Patriotic" Facebook group had over 200,000 followers, and the "Secured Borders" Facebook group had over 130,000 followers.61 According to Facebook, in total the IRA-controlled accounts made over 80,000 posts before their deactivation in August 2017, and these posts reached at least 29 million U.S persons and "may have reached an estimated 126 million people."62
May 21, 2018
By Drew DeSilver
Nearly 56% of the U.S. voting-age population (click here) cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, representing a slight uptick compared with 2012 but less than in the record year of 2008. While most Americans – 70% in a recent Pew Research Center survey – say high turnout in presidential elections is very important, what constitutes “high turnout” depends very much on which country you’re looking at and which measuring stick you use.
The Census Bureau estimated that there were 245.5 million Americans ages 18 and older in November 2016, about 157.6 million of whom reported being registered to vote....
...reached at least 29 million U.S persons and "may have reached an estimated 126 million people."
Hm. The Russians by this estimation reached at least 10 percent of the voting population and could have been as much as nearly 100 percent.
This was not a dog and pony show by Russia. They WANT THIS. This isn't politics, it is espionage.
I going to fix a cup of tea.
continued in next entry
There is no Matt Skiber at ID 100009922908461 except at Facebook and in the report of the Special Counsel.
5/31/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID
What is really troubling is that these political right wing groups organize under USA law 501(c)4. They take in money to carry out some kind of advocacy. Then a Russian entity comes along and they don't even question the idea that someone is using their name and quite possibly making money doing it. They never filed complaints that most people are aware of and they simply continue to exist collecting Koch money.
Footnote 56
Social Media Influence in the 2016 US. Election, (click here for transcript) Hearing Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 115th Cong. 13 (11/1/17) (testimony of Colin Stretch, General Counsel of Facebook).
- Impressions (an “impression” is how we count the number of times something is on screen, for example this can be the number of times something was on screen in a person’s News Feed):
44% of total ad impressions were before the US election on November 8, 2016. 56% of total ad impressions were after the election.
That is amazing. The Russians had built momentum during the 2016 elections and they did not want to lose it. Why, why were Russians continuing to hold onto it's activities AFTER the elections were in? They have an agenda. They STILL TODAY have an agenda. The Russians invaded this country through cyber warfare and even today have an agenda to carry out for their favorite leader, Putin. And Barr withdrew from the prosecution of these people. He is such a Trump puppet that he is a danger to the USA national defense.
Roughly 25% of the ads were never shown to anyone. That’s because advertising auctions are designed so that ads reach people based on relevance, and certain ads may not reach anyone as a result.
Only 25 percent of RUSSIAN agents' ads were a failure. That's not bad considering these are Russians composing them.
These agents know what they are doing.
Amount spent on ads: For 50% of the ads, less than $3 was spent.
For 99% of the ads, less than $1,000 was spent.
Many of the ads were paid for in Russian currency, though currency alone is a weak signal for suspicious activity.
Excuse me? Russian currency is basically worthless and yet Facebook decided it was good enough for the Facebook treasury. And it wasn't suspicious? THEN WHAT DOES FACEBOOK CALL SUSPICIOUS!
Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights. o A number of the ads encourage people to follow Pages on these issues, which in turn produced posts on similarly charged subjects
Okay, this is disgusting. The ads were political in nature and paid for with Russian currency. I think that clearly is a definition called suspicious. Here again no red flags. No one THINKING for a living. And the Russians are celebrating with a rally where The Chef's name is on banners for his birthday.
You know, Zukerberg goes to Russia and China and all those countries that aren't free and open democracies hoping to be a ray of hope to the people there and inspire new thinking about democracy and YET, he doesn't do a darn thing to protect the democracy that provided the freedom for him to design, grow and provide him with vast wealth. There is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
Facebook is a global organization and it needs it's own intelligence officers that work hand in hand with the FBI and CIA.
Footnote 57 3/18/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6045505152575.
Footnote 58 4/6/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6043740225319
.
Footnote 59 See SM-2230634, serial 213 (documenting politically-oriented advertisements from the larger set provided by Facebook).
Foonote 60 4/19/16 Facebook Advertisement ID 6045151094235.
Best I can tell these four footnotes identify specific ad IDs and are among the items in the evidence file with this report.
Collectively, the IRA's social media accounts reached tens of millions of U.S. persons. Individual IRA social media accounts attracted hundreds of thousands of followers. For example, at the time they were deactivated by Facebook in mid-2017, the IRA's "United Muslims of America" Facebook group had over 300,000 followers, the "Don't Shoot Us" Facebook group had over 250,000 followers, the "Being Patriotic" Facebook group had over 200,000 followers, and the "Secured Borders" Facebook group had over 130,000 followers.61 According to Facebook, in total the IRA-controlled accounts made over 80,000 posts before their deactivation in August 2017, and these posts reached at least 29 million U.S persons and "may have reached an estimated 126 million people."62
May 21, 2018
By Drew DeSilver
Nearly 56% of the U.S. voting-age population (click here) cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, representing a slight uptick compared with 2012 but less than in the record year of 2008. While most Americans – 70% in a recent Pew Research Center survey – say high turnout in presidential elections is very important, what constitutes “high turnout” depends very much on which country you’re looking at and which measuring stick you use.
The Census Bureau estimated that there were 245.5 million Americans ages 18 and older in November 2016, about 157.6 million of whom reported being registered to vote....
...reached at least 29 million U.S persons and "may have reached an estimated 126 million people."
Hm. The Russians by this estimation reached at least 10 percent of the voting population and could have been as much as nearly 100 percent.
This was not a dog and pony show by Russia. They WANT THIS. This isn't politics, it is espionage.
I going to fix a cup of tea.
continued in next entry
Continued from previous entry
It looks like this is where I left off.
June 20, 2019
Page 24
IRA employees also acknowledged that their work focused on influencing the U.S. presidential election. Harm to Ongoing Matter
Page 24 of the report and page 32 on the PDF
3. U.S. Operations Through Facebook
Many IRA operations used Facebook accounts created and operated by it's specialists.3. U.S. Operations Through Facebook. Harm to Ongoing Matter
Facebook's ability to maintain a leak proof company is impressive. Mark Zuckerberg has met with nearly every leader of countries in the world. He is received well and has to deal with people like the censors in China that won't allow full content to be shown. But, I believe he never thought these leaders would ultimately stab him in the back and use Facebook for espionage that attacks the sovereignty of First World country, right there in plain sight.
November 15, 2018
By Katie Steinmetz
About 38 minutes into a conference call (click here) with reporters on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg asked for more.
“I think we should probably take a bunch more questions,” the embattled Facebook CEO said, despite the fact that the call was scheduled to end a few minutes later.
The day after an investigation by The New York Times called Zuckerberg’s leadership into question — and accused the company of concealing damaging information from the public — it was evident that he is pursuing a painstaking approach to crisis management: more transparency. Among the revelations was that Facebook hired an opposition-research firm that uses a right-leaning news site to go after clients’ “enemies,” and that the company previously tried to downplay the existence of Russian meddling on the platform....
How does a country like the USA tell a top flight young executive he needs to do better in protecting from such uses of his media organization? On one hand Zuckerberg has wowed the world with his cyber empire and on the other hand, that same cyber empire is attacking the very freedoms that allow him to operate Facebook.
It has been quite a journey for Zuckerberg and the USA as well as the countries of The West. Never in anyone's wildest imagination did they believe when Facebook first began it's open source communication experiment that in 2016 it would become a threat to freedom and democracy.
Facebook, in the wrong hands, has become a propaganda tool that hurts people in the free world.
Footnote 53 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 54 Harm to Ongoing Matter
IRA Facebook groups active during the 2016 campaign covered a range of political issues and included purported conservative groups (with names such as "Being Patriotic," "Stop All Immigrants," "Secured Borders," and "Tea Party News"), purported Black social justice groups ("Black Matters," "Blacktivist," and "Don't Shoot Us"), LGBTQ groups ("LGBT United"), and religious groups ("United Muslims of America").
There has to be a sense of violation by the people involved with real conservative groups. "Tea Party News" is a direct spin off by Russians attempting to remove freedom from the Tea Party. "Stop All Immigrants" is exactly what Trump is attempting to do. There is no feeling of violation by the White House regarding the findings in this report?
This is not a political document, yet the political right in the USA seems impervious to the audacity of actions of Russia in the 2016 elections. I find that odd.
FOR GOD SAKE'S THIS IS THE COUNTRY THAT WAS ATTACKED! NO ONE HAS STRONG FEELINGS ABOUT THESE FINDINGS?
Where are the Koch Brothers? These are their political organizations. These groups are organized with Koch money and I suppose it is okay for Russians' to simply spinoff propaganda campaigns to achieve a goal and a completely covert agenda, that the USA may still not understand.
No one in the political right wing cares about that?
Throughout 2016, IRA accounts published an increasing number of materials supporting the Trump Campaign and opposing the Clinton Campaign. For example, on May 31, 2016, the operational account "Matt Skiber" began to privately message dozens of pro-Trump Facebook groups asking them to help plan a "pro-Trump rally near Trump Tower." 55
"How Russian Trolls Crept into the Trump Campaign's Facebook Messages" (click here)
The Russians, not the Kochs, were organizing rallies. That doesn't matter? No one in the right wing political spectrum bothered to ask, "Who is doing all this?" Why? All of a sudden there is some kind of wealthy benefactor to right wing political groups and no one asks any questions?
To reach larger U.S. audiences, the IRA purchased advertisements from Facebook that promoted the IRA groups on the newsfeeds of U.S. audience members. According to Facebook, the IRA purchased over 3,500 advertisements, and the expenditures totaled approximately $100,000.56
Not bad, $100,000 comes into the political scene in the USA and no one bothers to understand it. 3500 ads. 3500 ads. That is a lot of ads. And the most darn thing about it is that they all led back to the Russian IRA accounts. New names, new identities and no one on the political right even once paused that they were seeing the competition that was unidentifiable in their realm. Never once? 3500 ads and $100,000 is hardly covert. I find that strange. See if I was promoting a candidate or an issue and all of a sudden new ads show up that parallel my efforts, I sure would want to know who was trying to take control of my efforts. Who was the competition and could they cause harm to my candidate or my issue? Yet, never once did the political right wing question any of it.
During the U.S. presidential campaign, many IRA-purchased advertisements explicitly supported or opposed a presidential candidate or promoted U.S. rallies organized by the IRA ( discussed below). As early as March 2016, the IRA purchased advertisements that overtly opposed the Clinton Campaign. For example, on March 18, 2016, the IRA purchased an advertisement depicting candidate Clinton and a caption that read in part, "If one day God lets this liar enter the White House as a president - that day would be a real national tragedy."57 Similarly, on April 6, 2016, the IRA purchased advertisements for its account "Black Matters" calling for a "flashmob" of U.S. persons to "take a photo with #HillaryClintonForPrison2016 or #nohillary2016."58 IRA-purchased advertisements featuring Clinton were, with very few exceptions, negative.59
The rally stuff is such a sore thumb. It sticks out, unlike even campaign ads. The IRA was able to harness Facebook in a way that drove people to rallies. Wow.
Americans aren't thinking about the importance of their own country when they allow this level of covert activity into their politics. This is something everyone needs to worry about. Everyone.
IRA-purchased advertisements referencing candidate Trump largely supported his campaign. The first known IRA advertisement explicitly endorsing the Trump Campaign was purchased on April 19, 2016. The IRA bought an advertisement for its Instagram account "Tea Party News" asking U.S. persons to help them "make a patriotic team of young Trump supporters" by uploading photos with the hashtag "#KIDS4TRUMP."60 In subsequent months, the IRA purchased dozens of advertisements supporting the Trump Campaign, predominantly through the Facebook groups "Being Patriotic," "Stop All Invaders," and "Secured Borders."
The Russian IRA was targeting young minds. The clue about the misguided ads showed up on April 19, 2016 as "Tea Party News." Isn't the Tea Party a protected trademark? The Russian IRA shows up with "Tea Party News" and no one blinked an eye. The Tea Party did not have control of "Tea Party News." That never bothered anyone. And then an assault on children and young minds. No one was the least bit troubled by it.
continued in next entry
June 20, 2019
Page 24
IRA employees also acknowledged that their work focused on influencing the U.S. presidential election. Harm to Ongoing Matter
Page 24 of the report and page 32 on the PDF
3. U.S. Operations Through Facebook
Many IRA operations used Facebook accounts created and operated by it's specialists.3. U.S. Operations Through Facebook. Harm to Ongoing Matter
Facebook's ability to maintain a leak proof company is impressive. Mark Zuckerberg has met with nearly every leader of countries in the world. He is received well and has to deal with people like the censors in China that won't allow full content to be shown. But, I believe he never thought these leaders would ultimately stab him in the back and use Facebook for espionage that attacks the sovereignty of First World country, right there in plain sight.
November 15, 2018
By Katie Steinmetz
About 38 minutes into a conference call (click here) with reporters on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg asked for more.
“I think we should probably take a bunch more questions,” the embattled Facebook CEO said, despite the fact that the call was scheduled to end a few minutes later.
The day after an investigation by The New York Times called Zuckerberg’s leadership into question — and accused the company of concealing damaging information from the public — it was evident that he is pursuing a painstaking approach to crisis management: more transparency. Among the revelations was that Facebook hired an opposition-research firm that uses a right-leaning news site to go after clients’ “enemies,” and that the company previously tried to downplay the existence of Russian meddling on the platform....
How does a country like the USA tell a top flight young executive he needs to do better in protecting from such uses of his media organization? On one hand Zuckerberg has wowed the world with his cyber empire and on the other hand, that same cyber empire is attacking the very freedoms that allow him to operate Facebook.
It has been quite a journey for Zuckerberg and the USA as well as the countries of The West. Never in anyone's wildest imagination did they believe when Facebook first began it's open source communication experiment that in 2016 it would become a threat to freedom and democracy.
Facebook, in the wrong hands, has become a propaganda tool that hurts people in the free world.
Footnote 53 Harm to Ongoing Matter
Footnote 54 Harm to Ongoing Matter
IRA Facebook groups active during the 2016 campaign covered a range of political issues and included purported conservative groups (with names such as "Being Patriotic," "Stop All Immigrants," "Secured Borders," and "Tea Party News"), purported Black social justice groups ("Black Matters," "Blacktivist," and "Don't Shoot Us"), LGBTQ groups ("LGBT United"), and religious groups ("United Muslims of America").
There has to be a sense of violation by the people involved with real conservative groups. "Tea Party News" is a direct spin off by Russians attempting to remove freedom from the Tea Party. "Stop All Immigrants" is exactly what Trump is attempting to do. There is no feeling of violation by the White House regarding the findings in this report?
This is not a political document, yet the political right in the USA seems impervious to the audacity of actions of Russia in the 2016 elections. I find that odd.
FOR GOD SAKE'S THIS IS THE COUNTRY THAT WAS ATTACKED! NO ONE HAS STRONG FEELINGS ABOUT THESE FINDINGS?
Where are the Koch Brothers? These are their political organizations. These groups are organized with Koch money and I suppose it is okay for Russians' to simply spinoff propaganda campaigns to achieve a goal and a completely covert agenda, that the USA may still not understand.
No one in the political right wing cares about that?
Throughout 2016, IRA accounts published an increasing number of materials supporting the Trump Campaign and opposing the Clinton Campaign. For example, on May 31, 2016, the operational account "Matt Skiber" began to privately message dozens of pro-Trump Facebook groups asking them to help plan a "pro-Trump rally near Trump Tower." 55
"How Russian Trolls Crept into the Trump Campaign's Facebook Messages" (click here)
The Russians, not the Kochs, were organizing rallies. That doesn't matter? No one in the right wing political spectrum bothered to ask, "Who is doing all this?" Why? All of a sudden there is some kind of wealthy benefactor to right wing political groups and no one asks any questions?
To reach larger U.S. audiences, the IRA purchased advertisements from Facebook that promoted the IRA groups on the newsfeeds of U.S. audience members. According to Facebook, the IRA purchased over 3,500 advertisements, and the expenditures totaled approximately $100,000.56
Not bad, $100,000 comes into the political scene in the USA and no one bothers to understand it. 3500 ads. 3500 ads. That is a lot of ads. And the most darn thing about it is that they all led back to the Russian IRA accounts. New names, new identities and no one on the political right even once paused that they were seeing the competition that was unidentifiable in their realm. Never once? 3500 ads and $100,000 is hardly covert. I find that strange. See if I was promoting a candidate or an issue and all of a sudden new ads show up that parallel my efforts, I sure would want to know who was trying to take control of my efforts. Who was the competition and could they cause harm to my candidate or my issue? Yet, never once did the political right wing question any of it.
During the U.S. presidential campaign, many IRA-purchased advertisements explicitly supported or opposed a presidential candidate or promoted U.S. rallies organized by the IRA ( discussed below). As early as March 2016, the IRA purchased advertisements that overtly opposed the Clinton Campaign. For example, on March 18, 2016, the IRA purchased an advertisement depicting candidate Clinton and a caption that read in part, "If one day God lets this liar enter the White House as a president - that day would be a real national tragedy."57 Similarly, on April 6, 2016, the IRA purchased advertisements for its account "Black Matters" calling for a "flashmob" of U.S. persons to "take a photo with #HillaryClintonForPrison2016 or #nohillary2016."58 IRA-purchased advertisements featuring Clinton were, with very few exceptions, negative.59
The rally stuff is such a sore thumb. It sticks out, unlike even campaign ads. The IRA was able to harness Facebook in a way that drove people to rallies. Wow.
Americans aren't thinking about the importance of their own country when they allow this level of covert activity into their politics. This is something everyone needs to worry about. Everyone.
IRA-purchased advertisements referencing candidate Trump largely supported his campaign. The first known IRA advertisement explicitly endorsing the Trump Campaign was purchased on April 19, 2016. The IRA bought an advertisement for its Instagram account "Tea Party News" asking U.S. persons to help them "make a patriotic team of young Trump supporters" by uploading photos with the hashtag "#KIDS4TRUMP."60 In subsequent months, the IRA purchased dozens of advertisements supporting the Trump Campaign, predominantly through the Facebook groups "Being Patriotic," "Stop All Invaders," and "Secured Borders."
The Russian IRA was targeting young minds. The clue about the misguided ads showed up on April 19, 2016 as "Tea Party News." Isn't the Tea Party a protected trademark? The Russian IRA shows up with "Tea Party News" and no one blinked an eye. The Tea Party did not have control of "Tea Party News." That never bothered anyone. And then an assault on children and young minds. No one was the least bit troubled by it.
continued in next entry
Is the era of billionaire power over?
July 8, 2019
By Kat Tenbarge
Federal prosecutors unsealed (click here) court documents on Monday that charge billionaire Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking and conspiracy.
The indictment alleges that the financier molested girls as young as 14 in an operation that ran at least between 2002 and 2005, with dozens of girls victimized.
If convicted of one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, Epstein would face up to 45 years in prison. In the unsealed court documents, the Grand Jury charges Epstein with the sexual exploitation and abuse of " dozens of minor girls" in locations that include his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida....
I am sure with Trump it was all about programming. Getting the girls excited and improving their strut for the cameras. No woman can help but be excited around Trump.
12 October 2018
By Rachael Revesz
Donald Trump used to “stroll right in” to the dressing room (click here) of beauty pageants while the contestants - some of whom were teenagers - were naked or half-dressed, a former model has claimed.
Tasha Dixon was 18 when she competed in the Miss USA pageant, winning the state crown.
“Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,” Ms Dixon told CBS.
“He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.”
She added that people who worked for Mr Trump “pressured” the women to “fawn over him, go walk up to him, talk to him, get his attention” while still not fully dressed....
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