Senate Judiciary Committee to Subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Over Blocked Hunter Biden Posts

Committee to hold vote on issuing subpoena

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks in Washington on Oct. 14, 2020. Susan Walsh/Pool/AP Photo

The Senate Judiciary Committee will issue a subpoena to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after the New York Post’s reports on Hunter Biden were blocked, saying that the act may constitute election interference with 19 days away from Nov. 3.

“This is election interference and we are 19 days out from an election,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters on Oct. 15, adding that the Judiciary Committee “will issue a subpoena to Jack Dorsey” to testify on Oct. 23. Cruz and Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said they will hold a vote on Oct. 20 on issuing a subpoena.

Cruz accused Dorsey and Twitter of “abusing their corporate power” to censor the Post’s reporting on purported Hunter Biden emails that detail lucrative deals involving China’s largest private energy company.

Both Cruz and Graham said they aren’t sure whether the Post’s reporting is true, but they stressed that it is about censorship. The Biden campaign has denied the allegations in the Post’s reports.

Graham noted that discredited information from a dossier compiled by former UK spy Christopher Steele wasn’t blocked by Twitter. Meanwhile, regarding the allegations that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia, “nobody blocked that,” he said.

Social media firms, he argued, “have a dominance in our lives ... they’re publishers” akin to newspapers or television broadcasters. But Twitter’s recent actions “crystalizes the problem“ of censorship ”better than anything I can think of for the American people,” he said.

Jack Dorsey testifies during a hearing about Twitter's transparency and accountability, on Capitol Hill, in Washington on Sept. 5, 2018. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Conservatives, including President Donald Trump, have said that big tech companies such as Twitter, Google, and Facebook have engaged in censorship of their viewpoints, while simultaneously allowing far-left viewpoints to flourish with impunity.

“The power behind these platforms“ has been ”taken to a level that truly is dangerous,“ Graham said, stressing to left-leaning individuals: “It could be you tomorrow.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said Twitter’s “attempt to rig an election ... by monopolies is unprecedented in American history.”

Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Dorsey on Oct. 14, in a rare statement on Twitter, apologized after the Post said its account was locked.

“Our communication around our actions on the [NY Post] article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable,” Dorsey wrote.

On Oct. 15, Trump reelection campaign officials said Twitter locked its main account, Team Trump, for allegedly violating its rules after posting about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“Your account has been locked,” the Twitter message stated. “What happened? We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically, for: Violating our rules against posting private information.”

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said: “This is election interference, plain and simple. For Twitter to lock the main account of the campaign of the President of the United States is a breathtaking level of political meddling and nothing short of an attempt to rig the election.”