Twitter investigator Matt Taibbi has released information on a bogus website, Hamilton 68, that has been used for years to broadcast items that are fraudulently described as “Russian disinformation.” Hamilton 68 operates by establishing a collection of 644 accounts from which material is extracted and represented as Russian disinformation. Taibbi reports that media sources including NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, and Washington Post, and Mother Jones used this disinformed “disinformation.” He writes that at least two fact-checking sites, Politifact and Snopes used Hamilton 68. (https://scheerpost.com/2023/01/28/matt-taibbi-move-over-jason-blair-meet-hamilton-68-the-new-king-of-media-fraud/)
The notorious geopolitical Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) promotes Hamilton 68, identifying its operative Clint Watts as its leading figure. In addition to working for FPRI as an expert in “fake news” and related specialties, he was a former FBI Special Agent. Taibbi said that Watts tried to scare people away from tracking the accounts, by telling them to “follow the bodies” to uncover their identities. It is backed by other duplicitous think tanks including the German Marshall Fund and Alliance for Securing Democracy (advisory panel includes former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell; former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul; Hillary campaign chair John Podesta; and Weekly Standard founder Bill Kristol). Others involved Marco Rubio’s counselor Jamie Fly; and Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy advisor Laura Rosenberger, said they couldn’t name the accounts because the Russians would close them. Joe Lauria, editor in chief of Consortium News is also among the accounts. (https://consortiumnews.com/2023/01/27/cn-editor-named-on-secret-disinfo-list/)
The fraud continued way beyond where it should because the people who knew about it at Twitter were warned by government figures, including National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne, to avoid speaking about it.