Weaponization Hearing Finds At Least 20 White House Employees Involved In Tech Censorship
Louisiana's Attorney General on Thursday called for the firing of federal employees, forfeiture of retirement benefits and civil suits if they are found to have pressured tech companies to censor dissent.
Jeff Landry presented his proposal to Congress during a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the federal government's "firearms" investigation. He described what he called a "massive oversight project" that has sunk deep into the Biden administration.
He and Republican Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt said documents obtained during the trial showed that the FBI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Census Bureau, Dr. Anthony Fauci and several people in the White House took steps to crack down on the technology. Businesses Agree to Shut Down Narratives About Hunter Biden's Laptop or the COVID-19 Pandemic
"Please remove it immediately," a White House official tweeted. On another occasion, a worker criticized Facebook for "exacerbating the lack of confidence in vaccines in our country."
The influx of requests was so massive that Twitter instituted a "streamlined process" for prioritization.
"For example, on a given day last week, more than four different people were present at the White House for concerns," Twitter said, according to the filing.
Schmidt accused President Biden and his administration of “following their own ministry of truth.”
"The Biden administration conducted the largest speech censorship operation in American history," said Schmidt, who was Missouri's attorney general and led Mr. Landry's case before being sworn in as a senator this year.
Mr. Landry, who was a congressman before becoming Louisiana Attorney General, said the House bill was a start to prevent federal employees from using their position to engage in oversight, but it needed more bite .
He said federal employees who are reprimanded should face firing and forfeiture of future benefits, and citizens whose opinions are blamed should have a clear path to prosecution.
"There has to be a penalty or this problem won't be solved," Landry said.
The ongoing case has amassed a wealth of evidence through the discovery process and testimonies from Biden officials.
Information revealed included weekly meetings between tech companies and the CDC to talk about tackling distractions; FBI efforts to prevent the hacked footage from being released prompted tech companies to erroneously censor reports of Hunter Biden's laptop; and dr Fauci's efforts to publicly discredit the lab leak theory of the origin of COVID-19 prompted tech companies to begin censoring their platforms.
Stanford law professor Matthew Seligman, subpoenaed by Democrats to testify at the hearing, said platforms have always made decisions about censorship.
"Government officials have warned against confounding the programs and there is no risk of hostile government action," he said.
Special Assistant to the Louisiana Attorney General D. John Sawyer responded that the pressure campaign they uncovered was more than lewd and close to intimidation.
"In our case, there is overwhelming evidence that contradicts the notion that these were just suggestions by federal officials," Sawyer said.
He said he found at least 20 White House staffers who have been pressuring tech companies to remove genuine content, contradicting the White House's preferred narrative.
His testimony included an email in which, when prompted by the White House, Facebook claimed to "minimize" the content of vaccines, which Facebook conceded was "often true" but could be viewed as "shocking or shocking."
Republican Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah likened the government's efforts to pressure East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, to pressuring newspapers to prevent positive reporting on regime skeptics.
"I think it's an incredibly close comparison," Stewart said.
He said the Stasi would meet with opponents to intimidate them. He likened the tactic to a visit by the IRS to a reporter's home earlier this month while testifying before the Arms Subcommittee.
Democrats called the hearing a red herring.
Rep. Stacy Plaskett, the committee's top Democrat, said Congress should focus on the debt ceiling, the events of Jan. 6, 2021 and this week's school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Ms Plaskett, a non-voting Congresswoman from the Virgin Islands, said Republicans used the sessions to spread disinformation.
“Republicans know these are fake stories and they know Americans know the truth. They use methods to falsify the truth," he said.
Democrats have called Mr. Landry and Mr. Schmidt incompetent witnesses and have accused them of inciting a Jan. 6, 2021 riot that briefly disrupted the Electoral College vote count in the Capitol.
When Ohio Republican Jim Jordan and committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan forced them to answer questions — often courtesy of current and former congressmen — Democrats exploded. This deprived them of the opportunity to verify statements by Republicans.
A Democrat suggested keeping the men's statements secret.
"You mean you want to censor it," yelled one Republican.
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