Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse



Notorious Pro-Trump Misinformation Site True Pundit Is Run By An Ex-Journalist Who Was Arrested By The FBI

Days after former FBI lawyer Lisa Page testified in a closed-door meeting with the House Oversight and Government Reform and House Judiciary committees, pro-Trump website True Pundit published an explosive — and false — report about what she said.

The article cited anonymous “well-placed FBI sources” to claim Page revealed that Chinese hackers had accessed Hillary Clinton’s private server, stolen her emails, intercepted hundreds of top-secret documents including even the president's daily schedule — and that the FBI knew about it and did nothing.

In response, Page’s lawyer spoke publicly to say the story was unequivocally false. Even Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert — who has pushed the as-yet unproven claim that a foreign power “other than Russia” gained access to Clinton’s server — disputed the story about Page. He told Fox News she “apparently didn’t know” about anything related to China, directly contradicting True Pundit.

Regardless, the false story generated more than 22,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook, and was a hit on Twitter, where famed Trump supporter Bill Mitchell shared it. (The story was also copied by notorious fake news peddler YourNewsWire, which generated another 77,000 Facebook engagements.)


The most Twitter engagements for the article were generated by the owner of True Pundit, who uses the handle @Thomas1774Paine and goes by the historical pseudonym Thomas Paine. He shared the link more than 25 times to his close to 200,000 followers, generating thousands of retweets and likes.

“MSM Quiet on This One -- Wonder Why?” Paine tweeted, suggesting big media outlets were covering up his false scoop.

It was classic Paine: publish a false story that paints the FBI and Hillary Clinton in a bad light, credit the information to anonymous sources, and claim the mainstream media is covering it all up.

Since launching the site in June 2016, Paine and True Pundit have carved out a unique niche among the news grifters capitalizing on our conspiracy-laden, deeply polarized information environment. As New York Magazine noted in a piece debunking two True Pundit stories, Paine is “fluent in the paranoid language of 2016 social media.”

Paine combines the use of a pseudonym with almost exclusive use of anonymous sources to establish the persona of a deeply connected reporter with a vast network of FBI, law enforcement, and government sources. As with the Page story, he adds false or conspiracy-filled claims to real events or documents in order to create the impression of being rooted in fact. And the retweets, traffic, and supporters have rolled in.

...

To get answers, BuzzFeed News investigated Paine and True Pundit’s social media accounts, business and court records, and other publicly available information. They reveal that Thomas Paine is in fact Michael D. Moore, 51, a Pennsylvania man with a background in journalism, a criminal record as a result of an FBI investigation, and a long history of shady and illegal business practices.

After being contacted for comment, Moore did not respond and instead published a story on his website confirming BuzzFeed News' reporting.
 
Last edited:
https://lynx.media/2018/08/27/reporter-tries-to-get-tiger-woods-to-bash-trump-he-doesnt-take-the-bait/ (Reporter Tries to Get Tiger Woods to Bash Trump — He Doesn't Take the Bait)
 


Paul Manafort’s defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn’t reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month, according to people familiar with the matter.

The plea discussions occurred as a Virginia jury was spending four days deliberating tax and bank fraud charges against Mr. Manafort, the people said. That jury convicted him on eight counts and deadlocked on 10 others. Prosecutors accused Mr. Manafort of avoiding taxes on more than $16 million he earned in the early 2010s through political consulting work in Ukraine.

The plea talks on the second set of charges stalled over issues raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of the people said. It isn’t clear what those issues were, and the proposed terms of the plea deal couldn’t immediately be determined.

Representatives for Messrs. Manafort and Mueller declined to comment.

The talks were aimed at forestalling a second, related trial for Mr. Manafort, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 17 in Washington.
 
Top