Last Updated on December 13, 2022
Twitter owner Elon Musk recently fired former Department of Justice lawyer James Baker after it was revealed Baker allegedly worked to suppress important information related to the release of the damning first wave of “Twitter Files,” which proved that Twitter was colluding with both the Joe Biden campaign and government officials during the 2020 presidential election.
Journalist Matt Taibbi, who published the initial batch of Twitter Files, alleged that Baker reviewed the files before they were published, without approval by Twitter senior management. “The news that Baker was reviewing the “Twitter files” surprised everyone involved, to say the least. New Twitter chief Elon Musk acted quickly to “exit” Baker Tuesday” Taibbi noted in a Twitter thread here.
The first batch of Twitter Files, published here, details how and why Twitter suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop controversy during the 2020 election, which you can read about here. More broadly, the Twitter Files have proven that Twitter systematically worked to hurt Republicans throughout the 2020 election, with Musk openly claiming Twitter has interfered in elections in the past.
Baker, former general counsel for the FBI, is no stranger to controversy, nor is he a stranger to working against President Trump and Republicans.
An understudy of former FBI Director James Comey, James Baker resigned from the FBI in the spring of 2018 after consistent promotion of the debunked narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia and credible allegations that he leaked classified information to the press in order to disparage the Trump Administration. Testifying before Congress in 2018, Baker revealed that he had taken part in the FBI’s work to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign while Obama was President.
Baker’s involvement in the suppression of this story may be a serious breach of ethics. As such, House Republicans on the Oversight and Reform Committee have called James Baker in to testify before Congress regarding this matter, stating “Your testimony will provide the Committee critical context regarding the Twitter censorship team’s decision to prohibit users from sharing information about a presidential candidate.”
National File will continue to update this story as it develops.