New York Post DC reporter Steven Nelson confronted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the administration’s possible communication with fired Twitter employee James Baker.
Nelson asked whether any officials in the Biden administration communicated with Baker on vetting the first batch of information released in the “Twitter Files,” which investigated the previous Twitter executives’ suppression of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020.
“It’s up to private companies to make these types of decisions,” the press secretary said. “We were not involved, I can say that. We were not involved and as I’ve said several times this week already, we’ve had this conversation many times just the last couple of times, of course it’s up to these companies to make their own decisions about the content on their platform and to ensure that content flows on their own standards and policies. I don’t have anymore to share.”
Nelson followed up on her answer about the Biden administration having no involvement, asking whether the administration had communicated with Baker on being transparent with Musk.
“Just very quickly on the ‘not involved,’ not involved in speaking with Baker about transparency by Musk, is that what you’re saying? That the Biden administration wasn’t involved?” Nelson asked.
“We were just not involved, to answer your question. We were not involved,” she answered.
When releasing the first batch of the “Twitter Files,” Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi disclosed that there had been a delay in releasing more information over the weekend because Baker allegedly vetted the new batch without the knowledge of Musk and the rest of Twitter management. Musk then terminated Baker’s employment over these details Tuesday. (RELATED: Jean-Pierre Says Musk ‘Haphazardly’ Released ‘Twitter Files’ As A ‘Distraction’)
We can now tell you part of the reason why. On Tuesday, Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of “Twitter Files” – without knowledge of new management.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 6, 2022
Musk said Wednesday that “important” data connected to the censorship of the laptop story was hidden and some parts may have been deleted due to Baker’s alleged actions.
The first release of the files, published by Taibbi, showed that the campaign of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee requested that Twitter remove particular tweets days before the 2020 election. The tweets included a nude picture of Hunter Biden in the mirror with a woman behind him, and another tweet alleging that he was using drugs. A document showed a Twitter executive telling the Biden team that the request had been “handled.”
Taibbi further alleged that requests from the campaigns of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump “were received and honored” in the lead-up to the 2020 election.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged a question by Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich on whether the Biden campaign had knowledge of Twitter suppressing the laptop story at Wednesday’s briefing. She cited the Hatch Act as the reason she cannot answer the question on the campaign.
The Daily Caller contacted Baker for comment.