Rep. Jim Jordan Threatens White House With Subpoenas Over Social Media Censorship

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in Washington on Feb. 1, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has threatened to subpoena the White House for records on how the executive branch allegedly colluded with social media companies to suppress Americans’ free speech.

Jordan made the demand in a June 15 letter (pdf) to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, asking him to turn over records on how the White House “coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech.”

The request comes as the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that Jordan chairs has been probing allegations that the Biden administration pressured Big Tech to suppress dissenting views.

Jordan’s panel asked the White House in April to hand over information on its relationships with private sector entities in context of the probe, but Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, declined, according to the letter.

The reason provided by Sauber was that the panel should first seek the information from executive branch agencies, but Jordan dismissed this argument as “unpersuasive” because some of the materials sought are unique to the Executive Office of the President (EOP).

“We therefore reiterate our request for materials necessary to advance our oversight and inform potential legislative reforms,” Jordan wrote.

He gave Zients until June 29 to comply with the records request, threatening to get them by subpoena if necessary.

“Please be advised that the Committee may be forced to resort to compulsory process if these requests remain outstanding,” he said.

Jordan added that “there is already extensive evidence that the White House played a unique role in urging and directing social media companies to impose viewpoint-based censorship.”

“Based on this evidence, and in light of the EOP’s unique position within the executive branch, the Committee has good reason to believe that additional material exists in the EOP’s custody and control that would help the Committee to understand the nature and extent of its involvement in this censorship scheme,” he added.

The White House did not return a request for comment.

Earlier Subpoenas

Jordan is working with the “weaponization” subcommittee to probe issues related to the alleged violation of the civil liberties of American citizens.

Documents brought to light by reporters who were given access to Twitter’s internal files and produced in a lawsuit filed by several states against the federal government have shown that officials with federal agencies were regularly in contact with Twitter and other Big Tech companies.

The documents and lawsuit showed that the actions of the officials focused on alleged mis- and disinformation, including making requests to crack down on specific users.

As part of the probe, Jordan sent subpoenas in April to several top Biden administration officials over the administration’s coordination with Big Tech to censor users.

Jordan sent the subpoenas on April 28 to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly, and James Rubin, an official at the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC).

In letters accompanying the subpoenas, Jordan said that all three have responded inadequately to requests to provide records of communication between their respective agencies and social media platforms.

“Freedom of speech is one of the most important rights we have in this country,” Jordan told the Washington Examiner in April.

“The collusion between our federal government and Big Tech undermines First Amendment principles and should be investigated,” he added.

While the CDC and GEC did not respond to requests for comment at the time, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, CISA’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an earlier email that the department “does not censor speech and does not request that content be taken down by social media companies.”

“Instead of working with the Department, as numerous committees have done this Congress, the House Judiciary Committee has unnecessarily escalated to a subpoena,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email, adding that the agency “will continue cooperating appropriately with Congressional oversight requests, all while faithfully working to protect our nation from terrorism and targeted violence, secure our borders, respond to natural disasters, defend against cyberattacks, and more.”

‘Out to Get Conservatives’

Earlier in February, Jordan subpoenaed the CEOs of top U.S. Big Tech firms as part of the “weaponization” probe.

“Today, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed the chief executive officers of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft for documents and communications relating to the federal government’s reported collusion with Big Tech to suppress free speech,” Jordan’s office said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.

“The House Judiciary Committee has repeatedly attempted to engage with the five companies since last December,” the release continues. “Unfortunately, the companies have not adequately complied with our requests.”

Jordan was referring to a series of Dec. 14, 2022, letters his office sent to various tech executives.

Jordan alleged, in excerpts from the letter to the executives posted to his website, that Big Tech firms have colluded with the Biden administration to suppress conservative voices.

“Big Tech is out to get conservatives, and is increasingly willing to undermine First Amendment values by complying with the Biden Administration’s directives that suppress freedom of speech online,” Jordan wrote.

The Republican lawmaker cited long-held concerns among conservatives that their viewpoints are disproportionately stifled on social media platforms through outright bans, removal of certain posts, and “shadow banning,” which dramatically reduce a person’s reach on most social media platforms.

Joseph Lord and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.