itter Files footnote // Scott Johnson
Jonathan Turley, Professor at George Washington University Law School, comments on the drivel released last week by the FBI in response to the Twitter files:
It is unclear which is more chilling: the FBI’s menacing role in Twitter’s censorship program or its feckless response to that disclosure. The FBI has issued a series of “nothing-to-see-here” statements regarding the Twitter Files.
The FBI has stated that it did not order Twitter to take specific actions when flagging accounts for censorship. It didn’t have the authority to threaten the company, as we now have a state media that works by consent and not coercion. A warning from the FBI tends to focus the minds of most people without requiring them to make a specific threat.
Finally, the files reveal that the FBI paid millions to Twitter as part of this censorship program — a windfall favorablely reported by Baker before he was fired by Musk from Twitter.
A spokesperson for the FBI stated that the FBI works every day to protect Americans and responds to criticisms and disclosures. It is sad that conspiracy theorists, and others, feed the American public misinformation in an effort to discredit the agency.
It is possible to argue that “working every day for the American public” does not have to include censoring the public to protect them from misleading or errant ideas
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After Watergate, bipartisan support was given to reform the FBI and other intelligence agencies. Today, the cacophony has been replaced with crickets as the media continues to block coverage of the Twitter Files. This silence from the media suggests that the FBI has found the “sweet spot” in censorship and supports the views of the media and political establishment.
The FBI has now declared us part of a disinformation threat and is committed to eradicating it.
Professor Turley’s Hill column “When FBI attacks its critics and ‘conspiracytheorists, it’s time for reform the bureau.” I would like to believe that “reform” in this instance is a euphemism to mean something more severe. He reiterated and extended his column in this interview with FOX News (the transcript is slightly different).
