House Republicans on Wednesday are set to hear testimony from former Twitter executives into what the lawmakers characterize as the social media platform’s “role in suppressing the Biden laptop story” as part of their investigation into Hunter Biden and his family members and associates.
The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday will question former Twitter executives about the platform’s handling of New York Post reporting in 2020 about the alleged contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, in which the social media company controversially blocked users from tweeting and direct-messaging about it.
In excerpts of prepared remarks released ahead of the hearing, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the committee, will allege that “Big Tech autocrats wield their unchecked power to suppress the speech of Americans to promote their preferred political opinions.”
Comer will also claim that Twitter’s handling of the unverified articles shows that there was a “coordinated campaign by social media companies, mainstream news, and the intelligence community to suppress and delegitimize the existence of Hunter Biden’s laptop and its contents,” according to his prepared testimony.
The White House dismissed the committee hearing as a “bizarre political stunt” a day after the president delivered his second State of the Union address.
“This appears to be the latest effort by the House Republican majority’s most extreme MAGA members to question and re-litigate the outcome of the 2020 election,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement.
“This is not what the American people want their leaders to work on. As the president has said and made his focus, the American people expect their leaders to work together in a bipartisan way on the issues that most impact their lives and their families, not attack his family with long-debunked conspiracy theories,” he continued.
The move by Twitter executives to limit the spread of the Post articles happened a month before the November 2020 presidential election. Twitter backtracked months later, allowing users to share links to the articles.
The House Oversight Committee’s hearing Wednesday comes as allies of the president and his son consider a legal defense fund to support Hunter Biden and others as they respond to Republican-led congressional investigations, NBC News reported last month.
Republicans allege that Hunter Biden has capitalized on his father’s political career and connections for profit amid their criticism of a series of Hunter Biden’s financial dealings in Ukraine and China.
Hunter Biden beefed up his legal team in December amid an ongoing federal probe and plans by Republicans to make him a key focus of investigations as soon as they took control of the House in January.
Upon his appointment as the new Oversight Committee chairman, Comer accused the president of “influence peddling,” and swiftly dived into investigating Hunter Biden and other Biden family members and associates.
The post Former Twitter executives to testify before House Oversight about Hunter Biden laptop story appeared first on NBC News.
