Dem Congresswoman Takes Shot At Twitter Files Journalist. He Immediately Shreds Her.
Veteran journalist Matt Taibbi A House Democrat was given a small piece of her mind and a part of his resume by a mocking House Democrat at a Capitol Hill hearing.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett was (D)VI, and the exchange took place in a hearing that was held by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), whose Subcommittee for the Weaponization of Government is currently investigating Twitter’s treatment by the Federal Trade Commission. Plaskett was preparing to question Taibbi and fellow journalist Michael Schellenberger, two of the independent journalists to whom Twitter owner Elon Musk turned over damning internal communications from before he bought the platform.
“This isn’t just about what data was given to these so-called journalists before us now,” Plaskett said. “There are many legitimate questions about where Musk got the financing to buy Twitter.”
Taibbi patiently waited for the chance to speak and then stood up for the journalistic reputation that he had built over thirty years.
“I’m not a ‘so-called journalist,'” Taibbi spoke. “I’ve won the National Magazine Award, the IF Stone award for independent journalism, and I’ve written 10 books, including four New York Times best-sellers.”
To Democrats, “journalist” This means that one supports the DNC’s talking points mindlessly and faithfully. @mtaibbiThe response of a random member to Congress calling him “a” “so-called journalist”: pic.twitter.com/tjIN8rSOin https://t.co/b77Ffndg1g
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 9, 2023
Jordan had released an 18 page report which contained excerpts of Twitter letters. The FTC was also included in the hearing. Ohio’s lawmaker charged the FTC with trespassing. “orchestrating an aggressive campaign to harass Twitter” In an act “partisan pressure to target Twitter and silence Musk.”
FTC began probing Twitter before Musk acquired it. They recently requested Twitter to reveal the identities of any journalists that have had access to Twitter internal communications. A whistleblower reported that Twitter had broken privacy safeguards in a 2011 settlement. The FTC began investigating.
Plaskett was a non-voting House member and ranking member. He asked Taibbi, Schellenberger, and Bari Weiss about their process for vetting internal Twitter messages and instant messaging. Bari Weiss and the pair also viewed their twitter feeds. “Twitter Files” series have shown how Twitter worked in collaboration with agencies such as the FBI to suppress the views of conservatives.
Plaskett seemed to want to know the names of the people Taibbi spoke with within the company. But the journalist, who has been in the business for 30 years, refused to give his source. Taibbi said that the Substack tweets and Twitter threads which he had created on the basis of his findings were his subjective choice of information.
Jordan lambasted Plaskett for trying force a journalist name sources. Plaskett had denied this.
“I just think this is interesting,” Jordan stated. “First the FTC is asking for your backgrounds, and now the ranking member on the Committee on the Weaponization of Government is asking for your sources.”
“From Dem Congresswoman Takes Shot At Twitter Files Journalist. He Immediately Shreds Her.“
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