def authenticate(self, verify=True):
        """ Creates an authenticated and internal oauth2  handler needed for \
        queries to Twitter and verifies credentials if needed.  If ``verify`` \
        is true, it also checks if the user credentials are valid. \
        The **default** value is *True*

        :param verify: boolean variable to \
        directly check. Default value is ``True``
        """

        self.__oauth = OAuth1(self.__consumer_key,
                              client_secret=self.__consumer_secret,
                              resource_owner_key=self.__access_token,
                              resource_owner_secret=self.__access_token_secret)

        if verify:
            r = requests.get(self._base_url + self._verify_url,
                             auth=self.__oauth,
                             proxies={"https": self.__proxy})
            self.check_http_status(r.status_code)