Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald announced Friday afternoon via Twitter that he is taking a hiatus from the social networking site following a bizarre appearance on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Thursday evening.
After the contentious conversation with Carlson, Eichenwald fired off dozens of since-deleted tweets, most of which were incoherent, in response to the interview. And one alt-right Twitter user, allegedly aware of the Newsweek reporter's epilepsy, sent him a flashing gif with the words "You deserve a seizure for your posts."
The troll's account has since been suspended, but not before it caused Eichenwald to have a seizure, the writer's wife claimed.
Early Friday afternoon, Eichenwald returned to his Twitter account to announce that he is working with his lawyers and law enforcement to identify and charge the anonymous social media user who attacked him.
For self-protection, I am taking a short twitter break. I will be spending that time with my lawyers & law enforcement going after 1 of u...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
Last night, for the second time, a deplorable aware I have epilepsy tweeted a strobe at me with the message "you deserve a seizure' on it...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...it worked. This is not going to happen again. My wife is terrified. I am...disgusted. All I will be tweeting for the next few days are...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...copies of documents from the litigation, police reports etc. Once we have the lawsuit filed, we will be subpoenaing Twitter for the...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...identity of the individual who engaged in this cross-state assault. At this point, the police are attempting to determine if this is...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...a federal crime because it appears to be cross state. This kind of assault will never happen again without huge consequences. This...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...individual will be going to court, and he will be paying a price. And if any of you others ever try this again, I will make sure it...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...happens to you. Online anonymity does not protect criminals. Thats why subpoenas exist. You are facing a criminal investigation and a...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
...lawsuit. So if any of you others think about trying this "cute" prank, consider the consequences. They will be severe.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
Again, I will not be seeing your comments or tweeting for awhile except to upload copies of litigation and police documents.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
Otherwise, I'll be back once it is clear from the paperwork i will be tweeting that this is not a joke. See you soon.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
In October, Eichenwald recounted a similar experience he had, though the episode at the time did not result in a seizure, when he was attacked on Twitter by a pro-Donald Trump account after he wrote about the potential for major conflicts of interest in the Trump White House:
In his tweet, which has since been deleted, Mike made mention of my seizures and included a small video. It contained images of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that has been identified by the Anti-Defamation League as a hate symbol. I was carrying my iPad, looking at the still image on the video and, without thinking, touched the PLAY button.The video was some sort of strobe light, with flashing circles and images of Pepe flying toward the screen. It’s what’s called epileptogenic—something that triggers seizures. Fortunately, since I was standing, I simply dropped my iPad to the ground the second I realized what Mike had done. It landed face down on the bathroom floor.
