Russian Election Interference FAWKED

The internet never forgets. No deletion exercise, no surgical and comprehensive wiping of information can overcome that rule. It’s even worse when there is no attempt to delete, because up come the embarrassing results in the first Google search. And that is how the claims made about Russian electoral interference by the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog became an embarrassing own goal.

It was claimed yesterday in a written answer by Dominic Raab, who claims to be Foreign Secretary, “Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents … Sensitive Government documents relating to the UK-US Free Trade Agreement were illicitly acquired before the 2019 General Election and disseminated online via … Reddit”.

This is weapons grade bullshit. The thinly veiled attempt to smear former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is no more than a dead cat, an attempt to deflect from the Tories’ own Russia problems - like the report that still hasn’t been published, all those donations that come from Russians now resident in the UK, and of course the attendance of alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson at That Villa Party In Italy.

That much is cringeworthy enough. But for Staines and his gofers, it is significantly worse. While The Great Guido told yesterday “Government says ‘it is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election’ by amplifying online leaked documents about the US-UK trade deal. The documents Corbyn held a press conference about in a desperate attempt to change the media narrative after his disastrous Andrew Neil interview”, someone was not checking the Fawkes back catalogue.

As well as bringing readers “What Corbyn Claims The Documents Say Versus What They Actually Say” (meaning, what the Fawkes massive say they say) and following it with “Corbyn’s Redacted Negotiation Lies” (yes, Staines and his pals calling “liar” on others), there was also “Read In Full The Unredacted Trade Documents”. This last effort was presented as an “EXCLUSIVE”. There they were, all six documents.

The second of those posts, which confirmed that the Fawkes rabble had seen the unredacted documents, was published at 1012 hours on November 27th. Corbyn had only begun to address the meeting where he unveiled his copy at 1010 hours, and would have taken several minutes to point up the relevant part of their contents.

Add to that the minor point that Staines has admitted receiving money from Russian Government sources, and what do we get? What did Raab say? “Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents … Sensitive Government documents relating to the UK-US Free Trade Agreement were illicitly acquired before the 2019 General Election”.

Well, there’s a group of actors performing online amplification of sensitive Government documents relating to the UK-US Free Trade Agreement.

If Corbyn is implicated, then Staines and his pals are bang to rights. Another fine mess.

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