Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday formally requested that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appear before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in an upcoming hearing titled “Digital Platforms and Election Interference.”
In letters to the two social media honchos, Sen. Hawley, the chairman of the subcommittee, said that they would be asked “to testify on potential violations of federal election law in their censorship of the New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden.”
NEW — U.S. Senator Josh Hawley has formally requested @Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and @Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in a coming hearing titled "Digital Platforms and Election Interference.” pic.twitter.com/VlXBo17bX0
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) October 15, 2020
The New York Post on Wednesday published a report detailing scandalous and potentially criminal evidence allegedly found on a hard drive from Hunter Biden’s computer.
One “smoking gun email” indicated that Hunter Biden had set up a meeting between his father, then Vice President Joe Biden, and a senior official at the notoriously corrupt Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings. The email contradicted Joe Biden’s repeated claims that he and his son, who at the time sat on the Board at Burisma, had never discussed Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.
In another email, flagged by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden unintentionally revealed that members of the “Biden crime family” were in the habit of giving half of all their ill-gotten gains to “pop”—aka Joe Biden.
The emails and texts came from an Apple laptop that was dropped off at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware for repairs last year and then abandoned.
John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the repair shop, took legal possession of the laptop after the person who dropped it off didn’t come back within 90 days to claim it. When Isaac discovered the explosive information on the computer, he said contacted the FBI, out of concern. The FBI confiscated the laptop a few weeks later. After several months went by and he didn’t hear back from the FBI, Isaac said he contacted several members of Congress, who also did not respond. At that point, he provided a copy of the hard drive to Rudy Giuliani, who has been ringing alarm bells about “the Biden crime family’s” dirty overseas business dealings for the past two and a half years.
In the past 24 hours, Twitter has locked the accounts of the New York Post, White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany, and the official twitter account for the Trump Campaign, among many others, for sharing information it deemed “harmful.”
Sen. Hawley on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle Wednesday night, said Twitter and Facebook’s censorship of the NY Post’s scoop “looks like an in-kind campaign contribution to the Biden campaign.”
“I want to know what contacts Facebook and Twitter and others had with the Biden Campaign when they decided to start censoring this NY Post story on behalf of the Bidens,” Hawley added. “This thing just stinks, it reeks, and this is going to pull the lid off, I think, on just the corruption surrounding Big Tech.”
It's basically at this point Big Tech v democracy.
These tech companies want to rig an election. To control what we read. To control journalists. To control the news. And we just can't let them.
Sen. Hawley wants to see Jack and Zuckerberg testify before his subcommittee. pic.twitter.com/NL6uhO2jaD
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) October 15, 2020
Standing next to Chairman Graham and Sen. Cruz on Thursday, Hawley announced that in addition to his subcommittee, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to subpoena Dorsey and Zuckerberg, as well.
“Last night, my Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism invited both Jack Dorsey and mark Zuckerberg to come and testify,” Hawley said. “I think a subpoena from the Judiciary Committee is absolutely appropriate and in order.
“We believe in a free press in this country. We also believe in free elections, and the attempt to rig an election, which is what we’re seeing here by monopolies, is unprecedented in American history,” Hawley said. “They have a lot to answer for.”
Sen. Hawley on @senjudiciary Big Tech Subpoenas
"I hope we'll subpoena both Twitter and Facebook. They should both come. They're both engaged in censorship. They're both massive monopolies. They should answer to the Judiciary Committee. They should answer to the full Senate." pic.twitter.com/7xWcIZUwZD
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) October 15, 2020
The Missouri Senator also called on the Federal Election Commission to open an investigation in the matter.
My letter to the FEC re @Twitter @Facebook potential violation of federal election law pic.twitter.com/EhOMlj8jzX
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 14, 2020
On the Senate Floor, Thursday, Hawley urged the Senate to pass legislation he introduced in June that would empower Americans to sue Big Tech companies who act in bad faith and selectively censor political speech.
Americans are tired of Big Tech having all the power. And we're demanding change.
Sen. Hawley's Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act would allow Americans to sue Big Tech for censoring political speech or hiding competitor content. https://t.co/FWxdKimj6W
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) October 15, 2020
Update:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced Thursday that the FCC will move forward with rulemaking to clarify the Meaning of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Conservatives want Section 230 repealed because it gives internet platforms like Facebook and Twitter wide latitude to remove content they deem “objectionable.”
I intend to move forward with an @FCC rulemaking to clarify the meaning of #Section230.
Read my full statement below. pic.twitter.com/LhUz5XMdSC
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPai) October 15, 2020