Oy vey. This is just brutal
I’ll be live-tweeting this morning’s portion of the House “weaponization” hearing featuring testimony from Matt Taibbi
Rep. Plaskett begins by asking Jim Jordan if he plans to use information during today's hearing that Democrats have not had a chance to review. Jordan indicates that yes, he plans to do that.
Plaskett refers to Taibbi and Shellenberger as "two of Elon Musk's public scribes" who "release cherry-picked, out of context emails and screenshots designed to promote his chosen narrative, Elon Musk's chosen narrative, that is now being parroted by the Republicans."
Plaskett to Jim Jordan: "Americans can see through this. Musk is helping you out politically, and you're going out of your way to promote and protect him and to praise him." She then adds, "there are many legitimate questions about where Musk got the financing to buy Twitter."
Wow. Plaskett is not messing around at all and Republicans are getting mad about it.
LOL — Jim Jordan claims that Matt Taibbi is Democrat so he's not actually there to help Republicans
!!! Jim Jordan and Stacey Plaskett are going at it
Taibbi: "I'm not a so-called journalist."
Taibbi says the Twitter files are bigger than anything he's covered in his career, including the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis
tfw nude photos posted without consent aren't allowed to go viral
REP LYNCH: Do you believe that Russians interfered in the 2016 election via a social media disinformation campaign?
TAIBBI: Well, congressman, my issue–
LYNCH: It's a yes or no question
TAIBBI: I think all countries engage in offensive information operations
LYNCH: Mr Shellenberger, do you believe that Russians interfered in the 2016 election?
SHELLENBERGER: I believe that they tried to
TAIBBI: Also, that material was true
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Journalists should avoid accepting spoon-fed, cherry-picked information if it's likely to be slanted, would you agree with that?
TAIBBI: I think it depends
WS: Really? *plays clip of Taibbi basically agreeing with the premise of her question on Rogan's pod*
"Hypocrisy is the hangover of an addiction to attention" — Wasserman Schultz does a great job exposing Taibbi's right-wing grift here
"You're both good liberals" — Dan Bishop on Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger. Lol.
CONNOLLY: Have you released any information about the Trump White House attempting to moderate content at Twitter
TAIBBI: No
CONNOLLY: Mr Shellenberger?
SHELLENBERGER: I did not find that
CONNOLLY: You haven't found it?! *cites the PAB testimony*
CONNOLLY: In the Twitter files, did Elon Musk provide you with the Chrissy Teigen exchange?
TAIBBI: No, um, but that's probably because–
CONNOLLY: Probably because it didn't confirm the bias that this is all about "the left" attempting to control content
Plaskett isn't even trying to hide her disdain for Jim Jordan
Taibbi's smirk gives away the game here
Plaskett doesn't have patience for Taibbi interrupting her questioning time
PLASKETT: Did you know that Elon Musk received part of the funding for buying Twitter from Saudi Arabia and Qatar?
SHELLENBERGER: Ah, I heard that.
another heated exchanged between Jim Jordan and Plaskett
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Garamendi points out that in 2020 Twitter commissioned a study about whether its algorithm is biased, and it found that it actually amplified conservatives voices more than liberal ones
things devolve into shouting as Rep. Garcia asks Taibbi about his contacts with Elon Musk
lol
Sylvia Garcia grills Taibbi about the conditions he agreed to to get information from Twitter and about how Republican members of the committee got information from him before Democrats
"So you're in this as a threesome?" — Sylvia Garcia on the relationship between Shellenberger, Bari Weiss, and Elon Musk
"I think it's a difficult question" — Taibbi on whether Kanye West's antisemitic tweets should have been taken down
GOLDMAN: Are you aware that Rudy Giuliani was the sole source of the hard drive obtained by the New York Post?
SHELLENBERGER: That is my understanding
GOLDMAN: And are you aware that Giuliani had been openly cavorting with agents of Russian intelligence throughout 2020?
GOLDMAN: You said in the Twitter Files that every single fact in the Post story was accurate, correct?
SHELLENBERGER: Yes
GOLDMAN: *points out that the first paragraph of the story was actually inaccurate*
GOLDMAN: You said earlier, I believe, that you could not confirm that Russia interfered in our election in 2016, that you don't believe that. Is that your testimony, that you don't believe they did?
TAIBBI: I think it's possible they may have on a small scale
Taibbi doesn't really want to answer Goldman's questions about Russian interference
Goldman points out that there's a difference between a govt agency flagging certain tweets, and the govt directing a private company to take content down
Goldman: "What's unfortunate here is that we are talking about Twitter, and we are not talking about Republican govt officials around the country who are banning books, and we are not talking about Trump jailing his former counsel to prohibit him from publishing a book."
Goldman exposes Jordan for presenting incomplete information during the hearing to create a narrative of Biden administration censorship
the lack of self-awareness here
The "weaponization" hearing featuring Taibbi and Shellenberger is over. If you appreciate my video thread covering it, please support what I do by subscribing to my newsletter. Thank you.
for your viewing pleasure, I put together a supercut of Dems clowning Taibbi and Shellenberger during today's House hearing on the Twitter Files
Originally tweeted by Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) on March 9, 2023.