A House Judiciary Committee hearing on government censorship became contentious on Wednesday when Democratic Virgin Islands Rep. Stacey Plaskett reacted to a Republican colleague’s objection to her entering something into the record.
President Joe Biden’s White House influenced Amazon in March 2021 to restrict the visibility of books that expressed skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine, according to emails the House Judiciary Committee previously obtained. Plaskett attempted to enter into the record what she said was an interview with an Amazon employee saying the company did not remove any content, but Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California objected, leading to the Democratic representative raising her voice and colleagues’ questioning of the witnesses stalling for many minutes. (RELATED: ‘Exposing The Corruption’: Senate Republicans Target Biden DHS ‘Censorship’ Agency)
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“Can you please let me finish my statement?” Plaskett asked when Issa objected. Issa accused Plaskett of testifying while making an unanimous consent motion and repeated his objection.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Republican House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan moved to table the motion, but Plaskett started shouting over him and accused him of partisanship. “Are you going to do this for the rest of hearing?” she asked. “You’re gonna operate this way with your colleagues? You don’t follow the rules of the committee when it’s your colleagues over there. You’re gonna treat us this way? Is that how we’re going to do this? Is that how we’re going to do this for the rest of the hearing? You have no respect for your colleagues, this is ridiculous!”
Packages travel on a conveyor during Cyber Monday at the Amazon’s fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., November 27, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Former White House senior adviser for the Covid response Andy Slavitt testified at the Wednesday hearing. “Who can we talk to about the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation [on] Amazon?” Slavitt asked in a March 2 email. He complained about how searching for “vaccines” under books on Amazon yields “concerning” results in a different email the same day. The company was “feeling pressure from the White House,” according to a March 12 email.
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