This Week in Misinformation: Dark Denver, Arizona 'Electors,' Xi Persisted, Sharks and Rumors of Sharks
29 September 2022
This Prism newsletter strives to be the paper of record for all that’s happening in misinformation in the United States. For any citizen whose life is impacted by misinformation, it helps you see how storylines evolve from multiple, sourced angles on important stories in one place. For amateur and professional misinformation watchers, it is your go-to resource for updates on peers, platforms, propagandists, and politicians. Learn more about Prism and our other products on our Substack page, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook!
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Misinformation is the best lens through which to understand news about the world. Remove the garbage cluttering your view, and you can see things clearly for what they are.
Following up on last week, I wanted to first update status on the GoFundMe and shout out a tremendous THANK YOU. We are about 75% of the way to getting the January 6th voice essay trailer funded in just a few days, and it all came down to your support.
If you want to support in another way, every share is meaningful, and every sign up is appreciated:
Now, on to our top stories.
The former senior technical adviser to the January 6th Committee published an unauthorized book telling the story of the investigation. I’ll probably read it.
The book is being billed as a behind-the-scenes look at what the adviser, Denver Riggleman, did and saw until April when he stopped working for the Committee (CBS News, 46.11). The book caused a stir with members of Congress who are still working on the January 6th hearings and final report (Washington Post, 39.77) as well as with Denver’s own mum (Insider, 43.02).
The biggest splash from Riggleman’s marquee interview with 60 Minutes was that someone at the White House placed a phone call to a Capitol rioter while the attack was still underway (Insider, 43.02). The Committee maintains that it knows about this call (Axios, 44.24) and of course has done all that might be expected to run that lead to ground. CNN (42.60) reported the identity of the rioter, who claims not to remember receiving the 9-second call and had, in any event, already left the scene in his car. My view: it’s possible there isn’t much here to follow up on.
Riggleman also described how central White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s text messages were to mapping out the "attempted coup" (The Hill, 43.67) over the weeks leading up to the attack. In other January 6th SMS news, it was also reported that the cellphones of 24 agents involved in the attack response were taken and handed over to investigators at the Department of Homeland Security (NBC News, 45.61).
Riggleman’s book, meanwhile, did bring new information to light about some of the key players.
Mark Meadows, for example, was directly in touch with people with plans to seize voting machines (CNN, 42.60). Separately, the attorney for the Oath Keepers tried, strangely, to text message the White House switchboard in December before the attack. This Oath Keeper consigliere was also in touch with Rudy Giuliani’s son, according to NBC News (45.61).
In screen shots of the Meadows texts flashed on screen during the 60 Minutes segment, messages from Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward made an appearance (@jeremyduda via Twitter), possibly related to the fraudulent electors scheme that the two were pushing in Arizona. For what it’s worth, this week a judge also ruled that the January 6th Committee can get Ward’s phone records (NBC News, 45.61), so that should be interesting for Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar.
Also notable was how Riggleman addressed the "open secret" of Ginni Thomas's conspiracy beliefs, reflected in her texts to Meadows (CBS News, 46.11) and others. Just today, Mrs. Thomas answered in the affirmative when the Committee asked her under oath if she believed the 2020 election was stolen (NBC News, 45.61)--though she denied having ever discussed the fake electors with her Supreme Court Justice husband (New York Times, 42.95).
Xi Jinping: not dead.
The Chinese leader left Beijing on a trip to Central Asia, and in his absence rumors swirled that he had been removed from power and possibly killed in a coup (CNN, 42.60).
Xi is very much still in charge, it turned out (PolitiFact, 45.22), but when did being false ever stop a thing from making the rounds on the Internet (MIT Technology Review, -)?
You’ve never seen a grab bag so flavorful as this one: maybe there were real sharks in the Hurricane Ian flood, but there definitely were some fake ones; Coolio’s premature death gets dressed up in the same old tropes as every other celebrity these days; a jury convicts Q-shirt guy Doug Jensen for his January 6th crimes; another Capitol attacker is sentenced to four years for assaulting police; the Oath Keepers have a jury for their sedition trial; The New York Times (42.95) previews some toxic narratives watch out for in the midterms; we’ve gotten to the point that election workers require special training to handle conspiracy theories and “constitutional sheriffs” declare open season on fraud-hunting; Donald Trump is all that QAnon has to live for anymore; Facebook takes down two disinformation networks from China and Russia; and Harvard researchers try to keep Big Oil honest.
All this, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin