House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) issued subpoenas on Thursday to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The subpoenas were initiated in response to documented evidence that these agencies collided with Big Tech companies to censor content protected by the First Amendment ahead of the 2020 election.
“Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House,” Jordan had written on X in late July, as referred to in the letter’s footnotes.
The letter’s references included incidents like the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop
“Internal FB docs reveal that an FBI Special Agent made false statements in testimony about the FBI’s role in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story,” Jordan had pointed out.
In accompanying letters addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, which have been acquired by the Washington Examiner, Jordan informed the agencies that the objective of obtaining these documents is to facilitate the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the extent and manner in which the Executive Branch has influenced and conspired with private companies to stifle freedom of expression.
In the letters, Jordan urged both the DOJ and the FBI to provide all internal records and communications related to the moderation, suppression, or censorship of content on the digital platforms. A deadline of September 15 has been given for the submission of the requested materials.
Jordan referred to previous letters dispatched to Garland and Wray in April, when he sought an array of records related to censorship practices. He highlighted findings from what he termed the “Twitter files,” exposing interactions between the FBI and X, formerly known as Twitter.
These interactions related to censorship of the New York Post’s report regarding Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s business involvements prior to the 2020 election.
In his correspondence on Thursday, Jordan accentuated that the DOJ and the FBI have only supplied the committee with a solitary document, which he deemed to be extremely lacking.
According to the committee chair, this document excludes substantial relevant material, such as communications between the DOJ and technology companies, internal exchanges, and correspondences between the DOJ and other entities within the executive branch.
Jordan also made reference to a legal case, Missouri v. Biden, in which U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued a comprehensive preliminary injunction.
“A federal judge has found that the communications of various executive branch entities with social media platforms, including the Department of Justice, very likely violated Americans’ First Amendment rights,” Jordan wrote. “Yet you have produced nothing of substance in response to the Committee’s request.”
This injunction ordered the Biden administration to suspend specific communication activities linked to censorship with social media companies, pending the resolution of the lawsuit.