23 tweets from @TEN_GOP, one Russian-run Twitter account mentioned in Mueller’s new indictment

“Tennessee GOP,” or @TEN_GOP, was a popular Twitter account claiming to be run by, well, Republicans in Tennessee. Tweeting out a mix of pro-Trump cheerleading, ordinary partisan content, Islamophobia, racism, and conspiracy theories, the account amassed at least 136,000 followers. Its tweets often racked up thousands of retweets, sometimes even from top Trump campaign staffers.

And it turns out a Russian organization was running it all along.

According to a new indictment of 13 Russian people and 3 Russian entities released by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team Friday, a Russian organization “created and controlled the Twitter account, ‘Tennessee GOP,’ which used the handle @TEN_GOP.”

Twitter finally shut down the @TEN_GOP account in August of last year, and two reports from BuzzFeed News and the Daily Beast have more on the details of what happened there.

But it’s worth taking a look back at just what this Russian account was putting out there, both before the election and after it.

A review of many of its past tweets reveal some that appear to be deliberately advancing a pro-Russian propaganda agenda, and others that appear more aimed at staying “in character” in the fake identity of a Tennessee Republican. (It’s hard to see the propaganda purpose in, for instance, a tweet saying the late Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds are “singin the rain in the heavens now.”)

And despite occasional spelling or grammatical flubs (which, in fairness, native-born American accounts sometimes make too), there’s a perhaps surprising amount of sophistication in how @TEN_GOP understood US political dynamics, and how it attempted to make mischief.

So here, courtesy of screencaps from the Wayback Machine, are some of the now-deleted account’s most notable tweets.

The Russian account wants you to know that Russians didn’t interfere with the election

The Russian account supports the firing of James Comey

The Russian account does not want Julian Assange prosecuted

The Russian account likes Marine Le Pen and likes Trump’s position on NATO

The Russian account is often just flat-out racist or Islamophobic

The Russian account often spread anti-Democrat conspiracy theories

The Russian account is also sometimes just totally random

We're here to shed some clarity

One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via