House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) warned Breitbart News’s Emma-Jo Morris to “be ready” as a witness at the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government hearing on Thursday, noting Democrat committee members have previously attempted to get journalist witnesses “to divulge their sources.”
Morris, Breitbart News’s Politics Editor, broke the Hunter Biden “Laptop from Hell” story at the New York Post in the lead-up to the 2020 election. The story was censored on social media, with the Post’s Twitter account being locked for a period of time, and many have argued the suppression of the story and subsequent reports influenced the outcome of the election.
NEW: Rep. @Jim_Jordan Condemns U.S. Govt’s Role in Censoring Americans in Fiery Opening Statement
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 20, 2023
“Now, misinformation is when you don’t have the facts right; you’re saying things that aren’t true. But when you look at @RobertKennedyJr’s tweet, there was nothing in there that… pic.twitter.com/xGyyAFRHsn
“I think these guys – Ms. Morris, get ready. Last time we had a journalist sitting there, they were trying to get them to divulge their sources,” Jordan warned Morris at the end of his opening statement. “So be ready, but I know you can handle it.”
During a committee hearing in March, Democrats on the committee attempted to get independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, both Demortas, to divulge their sources. The pair were part of a small group of journalists who broke the “Twitter Files” stories after Elon Musk purchased the platform.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) attempted to get Taibbi to reveal his source:
C-SPAN“If you’re telling me you can’t answer because it’s your source, well then the only logical conclusion is [Musk] is, in fact, your source,” she told Taibbi.
“Well, you’re free to conclude that,” he responded.
“Well, sir, I just don’t understand; you can’t have it both ways, but let’s move on,” she followed up, prompting Jordan to interject, “No, he’s a journalist.”
Jordan added, “What he’s said is he’s not going to reveal his source, and the fact that Democrats are pressuring him to do so is such a violation of the first amendment.”
In her opening testimony, Morris noted that the Post revealed all of its sources in its reporting of the laptop:
The Post published exactly how the material for the reporting was obtained, even identifying our sources as well as the federal subpoena showing the FBI was in possession of the material the story was based on and had been since December of 2019. But when the stories appeared on social media that morning, the venue where millions of Americans go to find their news and editors to get their angles, within hours, the reporting was censored on all major platforms on the basis of being called hacked or Russian disinformation.
Breitbart News Politcs Editor Emma-Jo Morris speaks during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing in Washington, DC, on July 20, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Testifying along with Morris are Democrat Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Special Assistant Attorney General, Louisiana Department of Justice D. John Sauer.
Watch: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Censorship Hearing
House Committee on the Judiciary