State Department Official Urged Twitter to Delete Accounts, Newly Released File Shows

Some of the accounts were suspended

The U.S. State Department in Washington on Nov. 26, 2017. Win McNamee/Getty Images

A State Department official urged Twitter to delete accounts that he claimed were controlled by the Russian government, a newly disclosed file shows.

“The below are some Russian government controlled accounts that I think you will want to look into and delete,” Mark Lenzi, a security engineer, wrote in a 2020 email to an official at the social media platform.

Lenzi said he was able to ascertain that the accounts were Russian-controlled because of “obvious mistakes (including grammar) that don’t make any sense if you were really a Republican,” as well as “distinct increases in their tweeting around the Iowa caucuses and [New Hampshire] primary.”

Lenzi listed 14 accounts; six have been suspended and one other no longer exists.

Other State Department officials have asked big tech companies to censor users, and the department has funded similar efforts.

Twitter, Lenzi, and the State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.

At least some of the accounts weren’t controlled by the Russian government.

Hans Mahncke, a co-host of EpochTV’s “Truth Over News” and an Epoch Times contributor, says he knows four of the account owners.

“These are some of my friends. They are anything but Russian-controlled,” he said.

One of the accounts targeted by Lenzi, @Guccifer2Henry, said he only recently learned of the email.

“I‘d wager that if Twitter looked into it, they quickly recognized that Lenzi was divorced from reality re his claims that my account, and at least several others that he mentioned, was a ’Russian government controlled account,'” the account holder wrote on Twitter.

Sen. King

A person affiliated with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) contacted Twitter in 2019, according to internal messages.

Kevin Kane, a Twitter employee, wrote to colleagues that he spoke with the campaign director for King, “who provided a very large list (attached) of 354 suspicious Twitter accounts they have identified.”

The reasons for suspicion included “anti-King” posts, writing about Finland, and using the hashtag “fakenews,” according to the list.

Other reasons included being followed by a specific person, sharing a post by a specific person, and “spreading misinformation on spending on immigrants.” One person was singled out for being excited by a visit by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

King’s campaign also flagged accounts and groups to Facebook, the list shows.

The senator’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The emails and list were released by Matt Taibbi, a journalist who has been granted access by Twitter CEO Elon Musk to Twitter’s internal files.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) talks with reporters as he walks through the Senate subway on his way to a vote at the U.S. Capitol on June 21, 2021. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Lenzi Spoke to FBI

Lenzi, a Republican, spoke to FBI agents in 2018 about Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national who worked for the International Republican Institute in Moscow. Special counsel Robert Mueller later cited Lenzi, who worked for the institute, when claiming that Kilimnik was a Russian agent.

One of the accounts that Lenzi later flagged posted a thread on Twitter digging into the Kilimnik issue, including highlighting how Lenzi hadn’t worked with the institute since 2007.

Lenzi worked on the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign in 2008 but vowed to vote for Democrat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, the account noted.

Lenzi described himself as “a lifelong Republican” in his message to Twitter.

“Significantly, and somewhat rare at the State Department, I am a lifelong Republican that has worked for the [Republican National Committee] so in my work, I have been able to identify a lot of Russian-controlled Twitter accounts that have made it through some of your previous purges,” he wrote.

Lenzi asked the Twitter employee to not mention his name. He also offered to speak over the phone and give more details about his allegations against the accounts.

Havana Syndrome

Lenzi was stationed in China starting in August 2016. He says that he, his wife, and their two children began experiencing “sudden and unexplained physical and psychological symptoms” such as headaches and nosebleeds in November 2017.

He claimed the problems stemmed from the so-called Havana Syndrome, or an unexplained set of medical symptoms with unknown causes experienced mostly abroad by U.S. government officials and military personnel, beginning in Cuba in late 2016. U.S. intelligence and government officials have expressed suspicions that Russian military intelligence is responsible.

Lenzi said he had a disability and received permission to telework during part of every workday and for other accommodations such as “extra time to complete tasks,” according to a lawsuit he filed against the government.

He was upset that he was given jobs in the United States.

“Domestic postings do not provide the same opportunities for Mr. Lenzi to put his technical ... capabilities and language skills to use, and present him with fewer challenges and opportunities for career advancement,” the suit reads.

The government has opposed the suit, saying Lenzi’s claims of discrimination and retaliation were rejected in equal employment opportunity cases. The case is ongoing.