Former CIA director says Russian bots amplified Jade Helm conspiracies – ThinkProgress
[ad_1] In 2015, a new conspiracy theory swept across much of the American South and Southwest, claiming that then-President Barack Obama was planning on using an upcoming military exercise to install martial law across the country. Known as Jade Helm, the exercise took part over a number of states, including Texas. The conspiratorial concerns were sufficient enough to convince Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to send the Texas State Guard to monitor the exercises — a move that a plurality of Texans agreed with . Of course, Obama never plotted any dictatorship or martial law, and Jade Helm ended as little more than a routine exercise for the American military. But this week, we got a glimpse into why conspiracies about Jade Helm seemed to spike when they did. As the Texas Tribune first reported , former CIA chief Michael Hayden appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe podcast on Thursday , where he revealed that Twitter bot accounts run out of Russia amplified messages about Jade Helm conspira...