Mysterious Twitter account appears to be involved in leak of Conyers’ sexual harassment settlement

One of the most popular fake Twitter accounts run out of Russia, going by @TEN_GOP, long purported to be the unofficial representative of the Tennessee Republican Party. After fooling everyone from far-right conspiracy theorists like Jack Posobiec to Glenn Greenwald to the sitting president of the United States, Twitter shut down the account as part of its rollback of fraudulent Russian troll feeds.

Now, though, it appears that the account is back. Or it was, at least, until ThinkProgress sent questions to both the account and Twitter alike.

The new account, which went live after Twitter removed thousands of Russian accounts — and which places a zero instead of an “O” in the “GOP” in the account’s name — claimed to be the “Unofficial Twitter of Tennessee Republicans,” and featured a prominent photo of Donald Trump as its cover photo. It also provided an email account to allow followers to “[s]ecurely send tips.”

The account didn’t respond to questions from ThinkProgress, but, when contacted, proceeded to block this reporter on Twitter, and place its account on private. Shortly thereafter, the account appeared to remove all identifying information, although it remained up. The account was then removed in its entirety on Tuesday afternoon.

https://thinkprogress.org/tennessee-republican-fake-account-8aedaa7592f6/amp/