Zinger Key Points
- Trump White House made routine requests to Twitter in relation to posts on the platform.
- Twitter executives who testified in front of a Republican-led House Committee said not aware of similar requests from Biden.
- Trump wanted a particular tweet from TV star Chrissy Teigen removed from Twitter.
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The House Oversight Committee looking into Twitter blocking a New York Post story on the contents of President Joe Biden’s son faced an unexpected turn of events on Wednesday.
What Happened: The panel was to uncover Twitter’s role in the censorship of conservative viewpoints but it instead unearthed that former President Donald Trump requested the platform remove tweets he didn’t like, reported The Daily Beast.
One particular tweet that Trump wanted erased was from Supermodel and television star Chrissy Teigen in 2019 in which she referred to the former U.S. leader as a “pu**y a*s bi**h.”
Why It Matters: The Democrats on the panel highlighted how the now Elon Musk-owned platform accommodated Trump and his conservative allies, noted The Daily Beast.
A Twitter employee and whistleblower, Anika Collier Navaroli, said that Trump criticized Teigen and her husband John Legend and then immediately contacted Twitter to demand Teigen’s profanity-riddled tweet be deleted, according to the report.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) reportedly pointed out that it wasn’t Joe Biden that contacted Twitter about his son’s laptop but instead it was Trump that “didn’t like what Chrissy Teigen has to say about him.”
Two other Twitter executives that testified — Yoel Roth and Vijaya Gadde — said in response to Connolly’s questions that they “did not recall” any evidence of Biden having asked Twitter to remove content.
Former Trump administration officials and Twitter employees said that demands from the Trump White House to remove were not a one-off incident, reported Rolling Stone.
These requests were reportedly routinely made by Trump Administration appointees and GOP lawmakers such as current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Even so, the three executives who testified before the House panel admitted that they slipped up by blocking the story related to Hunter Biden’s laptop.
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