The Senate Intelligence Committee continues to hunt for evidence that Russians and the Trump campaign colluded on Facebook ads, even though the Russia-linked group promoted issues and groups on both sides of the political spectrum.
Meanwhile, evidence is staring them in the face that shows that it was the Clinton campaign that “colluded” with Facebook.
President Trump blasted Facebook in a tweet on Wednesday, saying that the social media platform was “always anti-Trump.”
Facebook was always anti-Trump.The Networks were always anti-Trump hence,Fake News, @nytimes(apologized) & @WaPo were anti-Trump. Collusion?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017
Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg responded with a Facebook post saying, in part:
Every day I work to bring people together and build a community for everyone. We hope to give all people a voice and create a platform for all ideas.
Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don’t like. That’s what running a platform for all ideas looks like.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tweeted out emails on Thursday that showed Facebook executives — including Zuckerberg himself — in direct communication with team Clinton during the 2016 election.
The emails aren’t new — they’re part of John Podesta’s email trove that was dropped in daily installments beginning on October 7 of last year through the election. And the emails aren’t surprising — we’ve all come to expect Democrats to be in close cahoots with their media buddies. But they do offer a telling glimpse of the Democrat-media complex at work.
In June 2015, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote that she wanted Hillary Clinton to win “badly.” Earlier that year, she had provided research to the campaign on “gender and leadership by women.”
Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, wrote to Sandberg in a January 2016 email that he was looking forward to working with her.
“Look forward to working with you to elect the first woman President of the United States,” Podesta wrote.
Podesta emails reveal that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg wanted Hillary Clinton to win "badly", provided research to her in March 2015 and met privately with her on multiple occasions. https://t.co/SxNQ4etdPD pic.twitter.com/dqyRG2zuln
— Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) September 28, 2017
Zuckerberg sent Podesta an email in August 2015, saying he enjoyed spending time with him and that their conversation gave him “a lot to think about.”
Zuckerberg, apparently convinced that he was communicating with the next White House chief of staff, asked Podesta if he could reach out to him in the future and said he was looking forward to continuing their conversation.
“I hope it’s okay if I reach out as my thinking develops to get your ideas and reactions,” Zuckerberg said. “If there are any other folks you think I should talk to, please let me know.”
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to Hilliary Clinton campaign head John Podesta, Aug 7, 2015: https://t.co/MYzqX2qWic pic.twitter.com/RvZlcpZrnD
— Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) September 29, 2017
Included in the chain was an email to Podesta from Elliot Schrage, vice president of communications at Facebook, who said Zuckerberg was “a demanding and inquisitive student” who was looking for a way to “direct his wealth to have an impact as great as Facebook.”
John, I wanted to add my personal thanks, too. Mark can be a demanding and inquisitive student, and he was both impressed and grateful for your time and candor. He’s begun a challenging journey to direct his wealth to have an impact as great as Facebook and your ideas and perspectives really moved his thinking. I know he was focused on the kinds of structures he should put together, but now I suspect he’ll be paying more attention to the types of people he needs — policy entrepreneurs and strategists — as he thinks about next steps. Any and all suggestions are welcome among folks you know or have worked with. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there are things we can do to be helpful in you and your work — whether at CAP or elsewhere.
Can you imagine emails like these being exchanged between these Facebook execs and the Trump campaign?
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