OPINION
I published in February 2022 that the Executive Branch of the Colorado Government monitors the social media of journalists and citizen activists. It sounded far-fetched and was quickly dismissed.
However, now the Twitter Files and various legal discoveries are exposing coordinated censorship between technology companies and federal, state, and local governments. The Executive Branch of the Colorado Government, led in this by Secretary of State Jena Griswold, has some explaining to do.
I am one of those citizens and journalists that was surveilled. In February of 2022, I learned that Secretary of State Jena Griswold submitted a Telegram post as evidence in an official election order against Douglas County Clerk Merlin Klotz. The forwarded post was about Clerk Klotz preserving election records in my county.
At the time, I had around 300 Telegram followers. I was confounded at how an uninvolved party sharing someone else’s post on Telegram rose to meet any official standard of evidence. I didn’t write the post; my only involvement was writing about the substance of the post. Why was the State Department monitoring a 300-follower Telegram channel?
Months prior, Secretary Griswold implemented rules that reshaped electoral oversight — despite historic public opposition. At that time, I rejoined Twitter to voice my opposition to the rules. I tagged her several times. My account lasted approximately two weeks before it was suspended with no reason or explanation.
Now we know, and I want an explanation.
As I write this, the Twitter Files are being released, a steady and explosive flow of internal documents, Slack threads, and emails from inside Twitter’s operation to “combat misinformation.” These recent disclosures implicate not only the embattled social publisher and its key executives, but multiple federal agencies and the offices of state and local elected officials.
In terms of federal involvement, we now know that Twitter’s “safety” chief was meeting weekly with the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Homeland Security, and Federal Bureau of Investigation to address what they claim was “election misinformation” — before the 2020 election.
For state and local, thanks to documents discovered in Missouri v. Biden, we now know that Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and her team were working with their Twitter contacts, as well as pseudo governmental entities, to manipulate public opinion and silence opposition, elections in which Hobbs was both in charge of the process and on the ballot.
“Congratulations to my friend @katiehobbs and to the State of Arizona!” Griswold tweeted on November 14, almost a week after the midterms. The two globalist Secretaries often appear together and are championed for their roles in battling “election deniers.”
Griswold and Hobbs share and compare notes.
In a document obtained through an open record request dated July 15, 2021, Colorado State Department CIO Trevor Timmons instructs County Clerks that their most important role in combatting misinformation is to be, “The Trusted Source.”
The document directs them to prioritize securing their blue check marks on Twitter, and State offers to help. There is coordination between Griswold/State and Twitter.
Colorado Citizens Want Answers
The recent disclosures are not isolated incidents of corporations and government serendipitously and heroically aligning to fight a common threat — no matter what The Narrative claims.
Based on what we now know, this surveillance appears systemic and nationwide. The Colorado Executive Branch needs to answer some questions:
Who else is Secretary Griswold surveilling? Her political opponents? Critical journalists?
Our digital lives are an extension of ourselves. Is Secretary Griswold directing technology companies to use digital force against the targets of her surveillance?
Does Secretary Griswold engage with federal intelligence and/or law enforcement as part of her citizen surveillance activities? Does she take direction from them?
Are Timmons’ efforts to combat “misinformation” and “disinformation” a (shallow) cover for surveilling and censoring criticism from Griswold’s political opposition? From her constituents?
In the words of one Twitter executive, the coordinated suppression of free Americans’ ideas and information is, “what this was all designed for and a huge positive for the platform.”
It was designed to work this way. It is being exposed. Will the Colorado Executive Branch engage in further cover-up?
The cover-up is always worse than the crime.
Happy New Year!
All references are available at asheinamerica.com.
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.