On Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed officials from three of Biden’s top agencies for documents and communications related to the Committee’s investigation into the federal government’s collusion with Big Tech and other intermediaries to censor free speech.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Jen Easterly, who heads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and James Rubin, coordinator of the Global Engagement Center (GEC) were all subpoenaed by Jordan as part of his Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee.
Jordan noted that the subpoenas are necessary because the agencies have failed to cooperate voluntarily with the Committee’s investigation, saying that “the agencies’ stonewalling is unacceptable, and we will use all the tools at our disposal to get to the bottom of this issue.”
All three letters had similar language citing the Twitter Files and other media reports as evidence that the federal government pressured and colluded with Big Tech and other intermediaries to censor speech.
“The Twitter Files and other public reporting have exposed how the federal government has pressured and colluded with Big Tech and other intermediaries to censor certain viewpoints in ways that undermine First Amendment principles. On March 22, 2023, the Committee wrote to these agencies seeking voluntary cooperation with our oversight, and to date, the agencies have failed to produce any documents responsive to the Committee’s requests.” Chairman Jordan wrote.
“Numerous documents made publicly available reflect the weaponization of the federal government’s power to censor speech online directly and by proxy. It is necessary for Congress to gauge the extent to which the CDC coerced, pressured, worked with, or relied upon social media and other tech companies in order to censor speech. The scope of the Committee’s investigation includes understanding the extent and nature of the CDC’s involvement in this censorship.” Jordan wrote to Walensky.
CISA head Jen Easterly and GEC head James Rubin received letters with similar language from Chairman Jim Jordan.
“On March 22, 2023, the Committee wrote to CISA seeking voluntary cooperation with our oversight.2 Among other things, we asked for communications between CISA and private companies, internal CISA communications, and communications between CISA and other third parties discussing content moderation. To date, CISA has failed to respond or to produce any documents responsive to the Committee’s request.” Jordan wrote in his letter to CISA head Jen Easterly.
The subpoenas require the officials to return the requested documents by May 22.
