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Republicans who are set to lead the House in the next Congress are interested in former FBI agent, and former Twitter attorney Jim Baker. Baker was a main actor in the Russian collusion hoax with former President Donald Trump before moving to Twitter where he was a key person in burying the Hunter Biden laptop story, Fox News reported.
“Committee on Oversight and Reform Republicans are investigating President Biden’s involvement in his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes. You have been identified as a figure central to suppressing information regarding President Biden and his family prior to an American election. Therefore, Committee Republicans request your attendance at a public Committee hearing during the 118th Congress to assess Big Tech’s control of free discourse and information sharing,” Rep. James Comer said to Baker in a letter he penned.
“Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently claimed that Twitter ‘has interfered in elections.’ The American people deserve to know why Twitter took down the Hunter Biden laptop story even when your colleagues were questioning the rationale for suppressing the story. Your testimony will provide the Committee critical context regarding the Twitter censorship team’s decision to prohibit users from sharing information about a presidential candidate,” he said.
He also sent a letter to Vijaya Gadde, who was the head of the legal department at Twitter who helped to bury the Hunter Biden laptop story.
“On October 14, 2020—the day the laptop story was published—Twitter took steps to severely limit users’ ability to share reporting by the New York Post that challenged Joe Biden’s assertion he had never participated in his family’s history of using his public office for financial gain. According to new information released by Twitter, you played a key role in the decision to censor the story—while ‘the Biden team’ directed Twitter to remove stories in the days leading up to the 2020 election,” the representative said.
“Your decision was made without knowledge or approval of Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey and when another leader of the platform’s censorship team—Yoel Roth—believed the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story ‘didn’t reach a place where I was comfortable removing [the] content from Twitter.’ Yet, Twitter—at your behest—suppressed the story and suspended the Post’s Twitter account. Media outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post now acknowledge that the information on Hunter Biden’s laptop is authentic,” he said.
“Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently claimed that Twitter ‘has interfered in elections.’ The American people deserve to know why Twitter took down the Hunter Biden laptop story even when your colleagues were questioning the rationale for suppressing the story. Your testimony will provide the Committee critical context regarding the Twitter censorship team’s decision to prohibit users from sharing information about a presidential candidate,” the representative said.
“To assist the Committee in conducting this important investigation, we request that you appear before the Committee at a full committee hearing during the 118th Congress,” he said.
As for Baker, when asked if they would demand answers from him, a House Judiciary Committee GOP spokesperson said, “Stay tuned
Over the weekend, journalist Matt Taibbi published internal communications from Twitter’s top brass in October 2020 about how to combat the New York Post’s publication of materials about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today,” Musk tweeted in response to Taibbi, who shared a story from famed legal scholar Jonathan Turley.
In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2022
Twitter’s internal communications at the time show that Baker was involved in discussions about whether the laptop falls under Twitter’s “hacked materials” policy.
“I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked,” Baker wrote in one email chain. “At this stage, however, it’s reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted.”
28. To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”: pic.twitter.com/tg4D0gLWI6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 3, 2022
Here’s more on Baker’s background, as noted by Fox Business:
Before joining Twitter, Baker also worked as general counsel at the FBI, where he was a key figure in the bureau’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Attorney Michael Sussmann met with Baker in 2016 and presented “purported data and ‘white papers’ that allegedly demonstrated a covert communicates channel” between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which is based in Russia. Sussmann was accused of telling Baker that he was not doing work “for any client” but later billing the Hillary Clinton campaign for the work. Sussmann was acquitted earlier this year on one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
Baker was also personally involved in the FISA warrant application to surveil Carter Page, who was working as an aide to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The application relied heavily on the discredited “Trump dossier.” Baker later admitted that his role in the Page FISA application was unusual.
