The RNC paid to generate thousands of calls to the congressional offices of nearly three dozen House Democrats in recent weeks, an effort that was aimed at both shaping opinion around the impeachment inquiry and tying up the phone lines of the elected officials, the New York Times reports.

New York Times: “All the site says about its creator is buried in the fine print at the bottom of the page. The site, it says, is a political parody built and paid for ‘BY AN American citizen FOR American citizens,’ and not the work of any campaign or political action committee.”

“There is indeed an American behind the website — that much is unambiguously true. But he is very much a political player, and a Republican one at that. His name is Patrick Mauldin, and he makes videos and other digital content for President’s Trump’s re-election campaign. Together with his brother Ryan, Mr. Mauldin also runs Vici Media Group, a Republican political consulting firm in Austin whose website opens with the line ‘We Kick’ followed by the image of a donkey — the Democratic Party symbol often known by another, three-letter, name.”

The Washington Post profiles GOP operatives Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, who see their mission as smearing critics of the president.

“As it turns out, the truth or falsity of a Burkman-Wohl-concocted story is merely an inconvenience. Let the media’s ‘puritanical’ fact-checkers puzzle it out: That’s the view of this twosome who fancy themselves as sub rosa players in the 2020 presidential contest and busy themselves trafficking in Internet rumors they hope will damage Democratic candidates. Like notorious dirty tricksters before them, they operate in a realm where it matters little whether their claims are proved — they hardly ever are — but only whether they somehow slip into a corpuscle or two of the national bloodstream.”

“But today it’s a more dangerous game: They operate in an era when notions about truth and fiction have been upended and in which many Americans get their information from self-affirming, partisan silos, making their brand of political cyberwarfare hyper-relevant.”

CBS News: “Russian Twitter trolls have attempted to fuel the anti-vaccination debate in the U.S., posting about the issue far more than the average Twitter user last year, a study out of George Washington University has found.”

“The ‘sophisticated’ bots shared opinions from both sides of the anti-vaxxer debate, which took the U.S. by storm and prompted tech companies to crack down on the spread of misinformation surrounding vaccinations.”

“A cadre of conservative House lawmakers allied with President Trump has been privately exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that depict Khashoggi as allied with terrorists — false and distorted claims that have begun to flare into public view as conservative media figures have amplified them,” the Washington Post reports.

“Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, is believed to have been killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives.”

“The tussle between two Republicans vying for a chance to capture the House District 69 seat has taken an unpleasant turn,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“Raymond Blacklidge (R) filed a report with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office accusing his rival, Jeremy Bailie (R), of stealing his campaign fliers from the doors of dozens of St. Pete Beach homes. And, Blacklidge said, his rival then replaced them with Bailie’s own campaign materials.”

Blacklidge’s wife posted a video to Facebook showing Bailie removing the flyers.