The President of the United States doubled down on his support of a doctors “summit” peddling the —just as social media companies crack down on the viral that came out of the event. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube removed a viral video of the event which had garnered millions of views after President Trump and others retweeted the clip. SquareSpace also suspended the website for America’s Frontline Doctors, which put on the event. The video featuring the eccentric , who claimed that the controversial anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was a “cure” for Covid-19 and that masks aren’t...…The President of the United States doubled down on his support of a doctors “summit” peddling the —just as social media companies crack down on the viral that came out of the event. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube removed a viral video of the event which had garnered millions of views after President Trump and others retweeted the clip. SquareSpace also suspended the website for America’s Frontline Doctors, which put on the event. The video featuring the eccentric , who claimed that the controversial anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was a “cure” for Covid-19 and that masks aren’t...WW…

A small group of social media trolls are trying to pin last week’s accidental fire onboard a U.S. Navy ship on sabotage by “black separatists” within the U.S. military. One their key pieces of bogus evidence: a fake letter purporting to come from a possible Biden vice presidential pick. The trolls forged letterhead from Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office in order to falsely claim that the senator is concerned about the nonexistent threat of an insider attack and wants the Pentagon to investigate.Duckworth’s campaign quickly reported the fakes to law enforcement and Twitter has since suspended...…A small group of social media trolls are trying to pin last week’s accidental fire onboard a U.S. Navy ship on sabotage by “black separatists” within the U.S. military. One their key pieces of bogus evidence: a fake letter purporting to come from a possible Biden vice presidential pick. The trolls forged letterhead from Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office in order to falsely claim that the senator is concerned about the nonexistent threat of an insider attack and wants the Pentagon to investigate.Duckworth’s campaign quickly reported the fakes to law enforcement and Twitter has since suspended...WW…

DOES NOT EXISTConservative sites like Newsmax and Washington Examiner have published Middle East hot takes from “experts” who are actually fake personas pushing propaganda.f you want a hot take about the Middle East, Raphael Badani is your man.As a Newsmax “” columnist, he has thoughts about how Iraq needs to rid itself of Iranian influence to attract investment and why Dubai is an oasis of stability in a turbulent region. His career as a “geopolitical risk consultant and interactive simulation designer” and an “international relations senior analyst” for the Department of Labor have given...…DOES NOT EXISTConservative sites like Newsmax and Washington Examiner have published Middle East hot takes from “experts” who are actually fake personas pushing propaganda.f you want a hot take about the Middle East, Raphael Badani is your man.As a Newsmax “” columnist, he has thoughts about how Iraq needs to rid itself of Iranian influence to attract investment and why Dubai is an oasis of stability in a turbulent region. His career as a “geopolitical risk consultant and interactive simulation designer” and an “international relations senior analyst” for the Department of Labor have given...WW…

Fox News star Tucker Carlson, all but alone among his fellow Fox primetime hosts in framing the novel coronavirus pandemic as a serious problem instead of a partisan hoax to hurt President Donald Trump, is potentially coping with his own concerns regarding his potential exposure to COVID-19.Carlson was among several guests at Mar-a-Lago last weekend who shook hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in close proximity to his press secretary, who has tested positive for the disease. Trump stood close by as Carlson greeted Bolsonaro. Since that Saturday night encounter, several...…Fox News star Tucker Carlson, all but alone among his fellow Fox primetime hosts in framing the novel coronavirus pandemic as a serious problem instead of a partisan hoax to hurt President Donald Trump, is potentially coping with his own concerns regarding his potential exposure to COVID-19.Carlson was among several guests at Mar-a-Lago last weekend who shook hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in close proximity to his press secretary, who has tested positive for the disease. Trump stood close by as Carlson greeted Bolsonaro. Since that Saturday night encounter, several...WW…

Justice Department attorneys struggled with mounting frustration and skepticism from a federal judge about producing documents related to the investigation of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, according to transcripts of closed-door conversations released in response to a lawsuit from a government watchdog group. The McCabe case—and President Donald Trump’s personal involvement in it—prompted federal judge Reggie Barnett Walton to call the government’s handling of it “disturbing,” a “mess,” and veering close to a “banana republic.”“I think it’s very unfortunate,” Judge Walton...…Justice Department attorneys struggled with mounting frustration and skepticism from a federal judge about producing documents related to the investigation of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, according to transcripts of closed-door conversations released in response to a lawsuit from a government watchdog group. The McCabe case—and President Donald Trump’s personal involvement in it—prompted federal judge Reggie Barnett Walton to call the government’s handling of it “disturbing,” a “mess,” and veering close to a “banana republic.”“I think it’s very unfortunate,” Judge Walton...WW…

Iran used the guise of the far-right Proud Boys to send threatening emails to voters earlier this week, U.S. intelligence officials claimed late Wednesday.At a hastily called evening press conference, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe spelled out what he said were concerted foreign efforts to sow chaos in the ongoing presidential election.“We would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors, Iran and Russia, have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.... We have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails...…Iran used the guise of the far-right Proud Boys to send threatening emails to voters earlier this week, U.S. intelligence officials claimed late Wednesday.At a hastily called evening press conference, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe spelled out what he said were concerted foreign efforts to sow chaos in the ongoing presidential election.“We would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors, Iran and Russia, have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.... We have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails...WW…

On election day 2016, senior Obama administration officials were prepared for chaos. Federal law enforcement agencies planned for the possibility of riots in the wake of a contested election outcome and a special White House crisis team braced for the possibility that were on the verge of altering voter data in a handful of key precincts.“The working hypothesis was that Clinton was going to win, and that [Trump] was then going to go and incite people to violence by claiming that the system was rigged,” according to Amy Pope, the former deputy homeland security adviser. Celeste...…On election day 2016, senior Obama administration officials were prepared for chaos. Federal law enforcement agencies planned for the possibility of riots in the wake of a contested election outcome and a special White House crisis team braced for the possibility that were on the verge of altering voter data in a handful of key precincts.“The working hypothesis was that Clinton was going to win, and that [Trump] was then going to go and incite people to violence by claiming that the system was rigged,” according to Amy Pope, the former deputy homeland security adviser. Celeste...WW…

A shocking report suggesting that the was “release[d from] the Wuhan Institute of Virology” in China is now circulating in U.S. military and intelligence circles and on Capitol Hill. But there’s a critical flaw in the report, a Daily Beast analysis reveals: Some of its most seemingly persuasive evidence is false—provably false.Multiple congressional committees have obtained and are scrutinizing the 30-page report, produced by the (MACE), a part of Sierra Nevada, a major Department of Defense contractor. The report claims to rely on social media postings, commercial satellite imagery, and...…A shocking report suggesting that the was “release[d from] the Wuhan Institute of Virology” in China is now circulating in U.S. military and intelligence circles and on Capitol Hill. But there’s a critical flaw in the report, a Daily Beast analysis reveals: Some of its most seemingly persuasive evidence is false—provably false.Multiple congressional committees have obtained and are scrutinizing the 30-page report, produced by the (MACE), a part of Sierra Nevada, a major Department of Defense contractor. The report claims to rely on social media postings, commercial satellite imagery, and...WW…

A little-known company located in Switzerland has come under scrutiny by the Special Counsel’s Office for its connection to Psy Group, the firm that created a social-media manipulation plan to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election. That’s according to three sources with knowledge of the office’s questioning, and documents obtained by The Daily Beast.Former employees of Psy Group said the FBI in 2017 and asked detailed questions about the firm’s business and ownership structure. These same sources told The Daily Beast that while working at Psy, which is now defunct, they operated under the...…A little-known company located in Switzerland has come under scrutiny by the Special Counsel’s Office for its connection to Psy Group, the firm that created a social-media manipulation plan to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election. That’s according to three sources with knowledge of the office’s questioning, and documents obtained by The Daily Beast.Former employees of Psy Group said the FBI in 2017 and asked detailed questions about the firm’s business and ownership structure. These same sources told The Daily Beast that while working at Psy, which is now defunct, they operated under the...WW…

First, nearly a dozen website domains started being registered on June 3 and June 4—names like “43alumniforbiden” and “43alumniforjoebiden”—hinting that another anti-Trump Republican group supporting the presumptive Democratic nominee was in the works.Now, three weeks later, organizers of “43 Alumni For Biden” are “preparing to launch,” becoming the latest in a series of GOP-led groups focused on defeating their party’s standard bearer as President Trump continues to crater into the summer.“We are preparing to launch our effort,” a person identified as Michael Brown in his email signature...…First, nearly a dozen website domains started being registered on June 3 and June 4—names like “43alumniforbiden” and “43alumniforjoebiden”—hinting that another anti-Trump Republican group supporting the presumptive Democratic nominee was in the works.Now, three weeks later, organizers of “43 Alumni For Biden” are “preparing to launch,” becoming the latest in a series of GOP-led groups focused on defeating their party’s standard bearer as President Trump continues to crater into the summer.“We are preparing to launch our effort,” a person identified as Michael Brown in his email signature...WW…