Democrats Threaten Journalists
Last month, Matt Taibbi and I testified to Congress about the existence of a Censorship Industrial Complex.
The night before, the US government’s Federal Trade Commission sent a letter to Twitter owner Elon Musk demanding that he “identify all journalists” involved in reporting on the Twitter Files.
Then, at the very moment that members of Congress were accusing us of being fake journalists, an IRS agent visited Matt’s home. They still haven’t explained why.
Happily, the attacks backfired. The members of Congress went too far. And their deliberate or accidental use of sexual innuendos made them a laughingstock on social media.
But it turns out that they weren’t done.
Two weeks ago, a whistleblower told me that the censorship industry would soon retaliate. It turned out that, at that very moment, MSNBC host Medhi Hasan was berating Taibbi on air. Shortly after, Hasan and many others in the mainstream news media falsely claimed they had debunked the Twitter Files.
Now, the same member of Congress who called us “so-called journalists” is threatening Taibbi with prison time for supposedly lying to Congress. Rep. Stacey Plasket sent Matt a letter that recycles the false MSNBC allegations and ends by saying he could face “five years imprisonment.”
Never in my life have I seen members of Congress threaten an expert witness with prison time. All of us who give expert testimony do so on our own time without even our travel costs covered. We do so because we consider it a patriotic duty. To threaten a witness with prison is grossly inappropriate. Why would anyone agree to testify in the future if they are to face treatment like that?
For the record, Matt’s statements were accurate. A small error was made in a tweet, not his testimony. And as soon as Matt learned of it, he corrected it, as all ethical journalists do.
Lee Fang, formerly of the Intercept and now writing at Substack, has thoroughly debunked MSNBC’s claims, and last night Taibbi documented that his testimony was correct.
Moreover, Fang discovered that Hasan has repeatedly engaged in dis- and misinformation, including plagiarism.
The bottom line is this: the Twitter Files blew the lid off the Censorship Industrial Complex, and its leaders are retaliating not just to scare us off, but to scare other journalists.
But here’s the thing: they don’t scare us, they energize us.
We are undertaking a major effort to expose the connections between the Censorhip Industrial Complex and the military and intelligence communities in the so-called Five Eyes nations of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. We are building a team to turn the table on the would-be totalitarians.
We can’t do this alone. If you know something, say something. You may work in the government, or for a think tank or university, working on so-called mis and disinformation. We need to hear from you. We will protect all confidences. michaelshellenberger@proton.me
When Matt and I testified to Congress about the existence of the Censorship Industrial Complex, we were just getting started. We won’t rest until we dismantle it and bury its parts underground.
—Michael
