Cruz: Twitter CEO Will Be Subpoenaed Over Hunter Biden Censorship
Texas senator Ted Cruz (R.) warned that he and his colleagues in the Senate Judiciary Committee would subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over the suppression of a report about Hunter Biden.
Cruz said Thursday that Dorsey will be called upon to explain to the committee why Twitter is "abusing" its power "to silence the press and to cover up allegations of corruption." He accused Twitter and Facebook of interfering in the election.
"Never before have we seen active censorship of a major press publication with serious allegations of corruption at one of the two candidates for president," Cruz told reporters.
Twitter and Facebook sparked controversy after they suppressed the circulation of a New York Postreport that Hunter Biden arranged a meeting between a Ukrainian businessman and his father Joe Biden, then the vice president. Twitter is also suppressing the circulation of a follow-up story from the Post concerning Hunter Biden's business dealings with a Chinese energy company. The platform prevented users from tweeting the story or sending it to others.
The Biden campaign denied that the meeting took place and said that the Post never contacted it about the story.
Cruz posted a screenshot of his attempt to tweet the Post‘s follow-up story Thursday morning.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) noted that false stories about Republicans have never been blocked on social media and said those companies' power has become "dangerous," warning that other speech could be targeted.
"You may be a Democrat saying, ‘I don't want to hear the New York Post.' It could be you tomorrow," Graham said.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) agreed with Cruz and Graham and said the subcommittee on crime and terrorism "invited both Jack Dorsey and [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg to come and testify."
"I hope that we'll subpoena both Twitter and Facebook. They should both come," Hawley said. "They're both engaged in censorship. They're both massive monopolies. They should answer to the Judiciary Committee."
Unbelievable. Yesterday, @twitter blocks links to @nypost story alleging Joe Biden corruption on China.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 15, 2020
TODAY, blocking links to ANOTHER NYPost story alleging Hunter Biden sold access to communist China for millions. I just tried to share that story. Here’s Twitter’s response 👇 pic.twitter.com/NZpw4gmcb2
'Pathetic': McEnany says Twitter has her 'at gunpoint' until she deletes New York Post report on Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany addressed Twitter suspending her account Wednesday, saying the tech giant has her “at gunpoint” until she deletes a New York Post report regarding the Biden family’s foreign business dealings from her account.
“It’s not a temporary blockage,” McEnany told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. “When I log on to my Twitter account, it says I’m permanently banned. They essentially have me at gunpoint and said unless you delete a news story by the New York Post, I cannot regain access to my account.”
“This is censorship. This is not the American way,” she told Hannity. ” This is not how a freedom-loving democracy operates. We have to have to hold Twitter accountable, and Facebook too, who is banning the transmission of this story simply because ideologically, it hurts the side of the aisle that Silicon Valley prefers. It’s sad. It’s censorship. This is not America.”
“Make no mistake, if they can ban the press secretary of the United States for President Trump, they can ban you, as a citizen, and that is pathetic,” she added.
The New York Post published a piece Wednesday claiming Hunter Biden allegedly set up a meeting between his father, when he served as vice president, and a senior official, Vadym Pozharskyi, at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.
The report contradicts claims Joe Biden made that he and Hunter Biden never discussed his son’s overseas business dealings.
“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Joe Biden said last year. “Here’s what I know — Trump should be investigated.”
The New York Post obtained an email reportedly from Pozharskyi to Hunter Biden, which was found on the younger Biden’s alleged computer left in a Delaware repair shop.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the email dated April 17, 2015 reads.
Following its publication, both Twitter and Facebook moved to censor the article.
Twitter made it impossible to share the story on its platform and even locked the New York Post’s primary Twitter account because of the piece.
McEnany said that she received a message from Twitter reading, “Your account has been blocked. We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically, for: Violating our rules against distribution of hacked material.”
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Wednesday that the move to censor the links without explanation was “unacceptable.”
“Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable,” he tweeted.
The Biden campaign also responded to the New York Post’s report on Wednesday, saying Joe Biden never held a meeting with the Bursima executive.
“[W]e have reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates told Politico.