Rick Gates Sought Online Manipulation Plans From Israeli Intelligence Firm for Trump Campaign

Rick Gates, a  top Trump campaign official, requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation, and to gather intelligence to help defeat Republican primary race opponents and Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign’s interest in the work began as Russians were escalating their effort to aid Donald Trump. Though the Israeli company’s pitches were narrower than Moscow’s interference campaign and appear unconnected, the documents show that a senior Trump aide saw the promise of a disruption effort to swing voters in Trump’s favor. Gates sought one proposal to use bogus personas to target and sway 5,000 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention by attacking Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), Trump’s main opponent at the time. Another proposal describes opposition research and “complementary intelligence activities” about Hillary Clinton and people close to her. A third proposal by the company, Psy-Group, which is staffed by former Israeli intelligence operatives, sketched out a monthslong plan to help Trump by using social media to help expose or amplify division among rival campaigns and factions.