A new Twitter Files report shows that Twitter executives knew the Russia-gate hoax was bunk and accuses one of the organizations pedaling the Russian election interference narrative of meddling in the Alabama elections.

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi created an X thread of an article written by journalist Susan Schmidt. The thread unpacked the dubious New Knowledge NGO and its behind-the-scenes work to get Twitter to censor accounts allegedly connected to a Russian government organization that some claim interfered in the 2016 election. Twitter employees and executives, however, were immediately skeptical of pervasive Russian bots. And, according to Taibbi and Schmidt, all the while, New Knowledge was interfering in American elections under the auspices of “Russian bots.”

Taibbi and Schmidt explained that the pressure on Twitter to censor allegedly Russian accounts can be traced back to 2018 when the Senate Intelligence Committee asked New Knowledge to investigate the allegations of foreign interference. The resulting report generated false news stories as then-Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) egged on the narrative. He called the report a “bombshell.”