WASHINGTON – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed FBI agent Elvis Chan on Friday to testify about the bureau’s efforts to “censor” social media – as the Biden administration argued it was only using a “bully pulpit.”
Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote that Chan did not show up for a scheduled interview and therefore will be forced to testify to ascertain “the extent to which the Executive Branch has coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech.”
Chan worked in San Francisco as the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force liaison to companies like Facebook and Twitter, including in the run-up to the 2020 election, and was interviewed last year by attorneys representing Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general.
“[T]The committee has found evidence that appears to contradict several statements in your deposition in Missouri v. Biden, especially as it relates to your communications with social media platforms,” Jordan wrote, without elaborating.
The Ohioan noted that the FBI agent did not voluntarily appear because of committee rules that required him to choose between having a personal attorney or the FBI present.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed FBI agent Elvis Chan on Friday.Getty Images
Missouri and Louisiana are challenging the federal government’s pressure on social media platforms to censor claims of misinformation, including about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and the need for masks.
That case, Missouri v. Biden, could be decided by the Supreme Court, which is considering the Biden administration’s request to overturn the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with Lower Court Judge Terry Doughty’s ruling that officials overreached in pressuring the company to remove content.
Doughty issued a preliminary injunction on July 4 that prohibits federal officials from pressuring companies to remove constitutionally protected speech.
Chan works in San Francisco as the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force liaison to companies like Facebook and Twitter.FBI
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court, writing that there would be “shocking” implications for placing “unprecedented limits on the ability of the President’s closest aides to use the bully pulpit to address matters that are public concerns, about the FBI’s ability to address threats to National security, and about the CDC’s ability to deliver public health information at the platform’s request.”
Free speech advocates note that many topics that were initially censored over federal claims about foreign influence campaigns and health misinformation later gained wide acceptance.
Previously censored topics that are now widely accepted include The Post’s report on documents from eldest son Hunter Biden’s laptop linking President Biden to his relatives’ foreign business dealings and the widely debated theory that COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab that did risky research.
“The First Amendment prohibits government officials from imposing censorship restrictions based on viewpoint,” Jordan wrote to Chan.
“The doctrine of state action represents the proposition that government officials may not circumvent constitutional rules by using private actors—whether through coercion, encouragement, involvement, or joint participation—to accomplish what the government cannot do directly.”
“Since January, more than a dozen current and former FBI officials have appeared for transcribed interviews with the House Judiciary Committee. “Today, after an FBI employee traveled across the country to voluntarily participate in a scheduled interview, he was denied the right to have an attorney of his choice accompany him,” the FBI said in a statement Friday night.
“Upon arrival at the Capitol, Committee staff ordered the agency’s attorneys to leave the premises, and the interview could not continue. This is a significant departure from normal procedure and an unnecessary escalation of the Committee’s treatment of FBI officials. FBI personnel remain available to participate in voluntary interviews with appropriate legal representation,” the agency added.
“The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and will continue to follow its longstanding accommodation process.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
