The democrats’ attack on “Twitter Files” reporter Matt Taibbi escalated on Thursday when it was revealed that democrat Rep. Stacey Plaskett, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, threatened him with five years imprisonment.
In a five-page letter alleging that Taibbi committed perjury during his testimony for the House Judiciary subcommittee, Plaskett said, “It has come to my attention that information foundational to your testimony that day has since been revealed to be false and misleading.”
The letter went on, purporting that Taibbi made contradicting statements, confusing the acronyms for a nonprofit organization called Center for Internet Security (CIS) and the government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Conflating the two, Plaskett argued, falsely accuses a government agency of colluding with content moderation think tanks like the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). According to Plaskett, this could “lead Congress to rely on inaccurate testimony in considering and/or passing new legislation which would impact all Americans.”
Plaskett closed the letter with an ominous reminder that, “Under the federal perjury statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1621, providing false information is punishable by up to five years imprisonment.”
Taibbi responded in an article saying, “Stacey Plaskett is threatening me with prison, over her own error.” Continuing with his dismantling of Plaskett’s accusations, he added:
It would be one thing if I really made the mistake. In that case, Plaskett’s letter would merely be an outrageous attempt to intimidate a witness by threatening a charge of intentional lying over a miscue. But that’s not the case. I did of course make an error, but what Plaskett is referencing is actually a mistake by Hasan.
Referring to Mehdi Hasan, an MSNBC host, Taibbi explained that Plaskett was merely repeating an accusation Hasan made during an interview with Taibbi earlier in April.
Independent journalist Lee Fang also shared a twitter thread explaining that, whether Taibbi misstated CIS or CISA is immaterial, since the EIP partners with both organizations:
Mehdi Hasan's claim that EIP only partnered with CIS, not CISA, is debunked by EIP itself. EIP's annual report says the group was founded in consultation with CISA/DHS. Here's EIP's director saying its main government partner was CISA-DHS.
Taibbi and Fang have both reiterated throughout their reporting that one of the main revelations of the Twitter Files is that the government, private contractors, and NGOs all work together in a “tangled collaboration” to reach shared objectives.
This opaque and evasive collaboration is precisely what makes the government’s influence on internet censorship so threatening. And the point is driven home by Plackett’s actions themselves.
Journalist Benjamin Weingarten tweeted:
Send an IRS agent to Taibbi's home the day he's testifying about the weaponization of the federal government. Have a non-voting delegate to the U.S. House threaten him with perjury for truthful statements made in sworn testimony over an error in a tweet raised by an MSNBC host. Yep, there's no weaponization and hyper-politicization of the ruling regime against its political foes -- particularly those claiming it is weaponized and hyper-politicized.
Taibbi and Lee Fang also warn that it’s not just Plaskett coming after them for reporting on the Twitter Files — it’s multiple house democrats. They assert the accusations by Plaskett are intended to undermine the credibility of Taibbi’s entire body of reporting. If democrats can land a death-blow to the Twitter Files, they can dodge an unprecedented censorship scandal.
Many journalists agree that this is an outrageous tactic to silence a free press. Fellow Twitter Files reporter Michael Shellenberger tweeted, “Sure is getting fashy around here.” And Matt Stoller tweed:
Reckless behavior by @StaceyPlaskett. Disagree with Taibbi all you want, but there’s no better way to confirm the point of his reporting than to threaten him with imprisonment for telling Congress about his reporting.
Commenters all over Twitter pointed out the irony that Plaskett is threatening witnesses with prison over testimony for a committee called the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government:
Government officials in the House and even the IRS are not gaining any favor among those who suspect politicized actions. In March, on the same day Taibbi testified in the House, an IRS agent showed up at his house.
At the time, the white house declined to comment on the incident. And Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, asking, “What are the chances of that being just luck? That the IRS appeared at someone’s home while he’s testifying about the weaponization of the federal government before Congress?”
President Trump even commented on the IRS visit in a speech on Thursday saying, “That is not a coincidence. It’s just plain brazen and somewhat stupid.”
Image Credit: 2 November 2021; Stacey Plaskett, House of Representatives, on Centre Stage during day one of Web Summit 2021 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Harry Murphy/Web Summit via Sportsfile used under Creative Commons license CC BY-2.0.
