White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Twitter CEO Elon Musk “haphazardly” released the “Twitter Files” as a “distraction” against the platform’s alleged misinformation and hateful speech.
Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich questioned Jean-Pierre on Musk’s “Twitter Files,” released Friday and reported by journalist Matt Taibbi. The emails detail the decision by Twitter’s trust and safety team to suppress the New York Post’s October 2020 story on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“Is it the White House’s view that the decisions made at Twitter were made appropriately in terms of decisions to censor this reporting ahead of the election?” Heinrich asked.
“We see this as an interesting, or a coincidence, if I may that he [Musk] would so haphazardly push this distraction that is full of old news if you think about it,” the press secretary said. “This time, Twitter is facing very real and very serious questions about the rising volume of anger, hate and antisemitism on their platform and how they’re letting it happen. And, you know, the president said last week, more leaders need to speak out and reject this and it’s very alarming and very dangerous.”
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Regarding Heinrich’s question, she also addressed her previous remark that the White House is keeping a “close eye” on Twitter for “misinformation” and “hate.” (RELATED: Doocy Asks Jean-Pierre When The White House Plans To Delete Its Twitter Account)
“You mischaracterize what I actually said, took it out of context when you asked her question. Look, when you asked the question, and I’ve already addressed this about how the White House and the administration is seeing what’s happening on Twitter,” Jean-Pierre said. “We follow, also, what’s going on just like you guys are reporting, just like you guys are seeing and what I was commenting to is yes, we are seeing what is happening just like you all are seeing what’s happening with Twitter.”
Musk has called for accountability for Twitter’s initial leadership over the suppression of a story on Biden’s laptop. In October 2020, Twitter locked the accounts of the New York Post and former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany for posting a report detailing an email from his laptop indicating a meeting between Biden and his father Joe Biden with an executive of Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2015.
A signed declaration by Twitter’s former head of Site Integrity Yoel Roth found that the FBI warned him and Twitter executives of a “hack-and-leak” operation against Biden by “state actors” in an attempt to influence the 2020 election.