Fox News White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on whether President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign had knowledge of the FBI’s communication with Twitter.
Heinrich posed the question following the release of a signed declaration finding that the FBI warned Twitter executives of a possible “hack-and-leak” by “state actors” to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. The FBI warned Twitter of alleged election security concerns during weekly meetings with the social media company and other government agencies.
“Did anyone from the Biden team communicate to Twitter that this reporting stemmed from hacked materials?” Heinrich asked at Wednesday’s briefing.
“Are you talking about the campaign?” the press secretary asked.
“It would’ve been the campaign or anyone around the family, just wondering because in the Twitter Files release and what Matt Taibbi said, he noted that typically the company would require a law enforcement or official finding that something was hacked in order to exercise their hacked materials clause and that he didn’t see that in what had been given to him,” she continued.
The press secretary said the Hatch Act prevents her from speaking on behalf of a current or former political campaign. She answered that social media companies are independently responsible for the content on their platforms. (RELATED: Rep. Jim Jordan Calls For Investigation Into FBI’s Alleged Role In Hunter Biden Laptop Story Suppression)
“I can’t speak to decisions made by the campaign from here, it is a political campaign so I can’t speak to that from here,” she said. “I’m covered by the Hatch Act and so I’m just not going to comment on the question that you’re asking me.”
At Monday’s briefing, the press secretary said that Twitter CEO Elon Musk “haphazardly” released the “Twitter Files” to distract from the alleged misinformation and hateful speech being promoted on his platform. Musk released the information alongside Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi to primarily disclose information on former Twitter executives suppressing the Hunter Biden story.
Taibbi has asserted that federal law enforcement had no involvement in Twitter’s decision to censor the laptop story. On October 14, 2020, Twitter locked the accounts of the New York Post and former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for posting the Post’s story on the platform.
