WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ripped President Biden’s top spokesperson Tuesday for her “offensive” statement that officials are “keeping an eye on” Elon Musk’s pro-free speech reforms at Twitter.
The Biden administration “should stop picking on Elon Musk,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters on the White House driveway after meeting with Biden and other congressional leaders.
“What do you make of the White House saying they are ‘keeping an eye on’ Twitter under Elon Musk’s ownership and leadership?” a reporter asked McCarthy, who is favored become House speaker in January.
“That is offensive to me,” McCarthy said in response to the Monday remark from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“Government’s gonna go after someone who wants to have free speech? What do they have to look at Twitter about? Do they want to go more after the American public about whether they can have an opinion on something?” McCarthy asked.
“I think the American public have spoken on this. I think our First Amendment stands up and I think they should stop picking on Elon Musk.”
McCarthy went on, “You know, Elon Musk has succeeded in many places. I’d bet on him… And I one thing I would say when we talked about accountability, we will no longer let government go after people simply because of their political views.”
Jean-Pierre said at a Monday briefing that the White House was “certainly keeping an eye on” Musk’s Twitter moves.
“We have always been very clear that when it comes to social media platforms, it is their responsibility to make sure that when it comes to misinformation, when it comes to the hate that we’re seeing, that they take action, that they continue to take action,” Jean-Pierre said.
“Again, we’re all keeping a close eye on this. We’re all monitoring what’s currently occurring. And we see it with our own eyes of what you all are reporting and, just for ourselves, what’s happening on Twitter.”
Musk, who also leads electric car company Tesla and aerospace giant SpaceX, took over Twitter about a month ago and has taken steps to reverse what he described as anti-conservative censorship. He reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account and has teased a looming amnesty for other previously suspended accounts.
Earlier this month, Biden called for federal investigations of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter on national security grounds because of long-term minority ownership stake by a Saudi prince.
“I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at,” Biden said at a Nov. 9 press conference. “Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth being looked at.”
“How?” a journalist followed up.
“There’s a lot of ways,” Biden said.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has had a stake in Twitter since 2011 and his firm Kingdom Holdings currently owns about 4% of the platform, making him the second-largest shareholder after Musk.
Republicans said it was ironic that Biden would call for such a probe when the president allegedly was involved in his son Hunter Biden and brother Jim Biden’s business relationships in China, Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
House Republicans say they will get to the bottom of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s overseas dealings when they regain the power to subpoena testimony and evidence.
Musk bought Twitter after the site’s staff frequently suppressed content damaging to Biden — including banning distribution of The Post’s bombshell October 2020 articles citing Hunter Biden’s laptop documents that linked Joe Biden to his son’s ventures in China and Ukraine.
On Monday, Musk tweeted: “The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself,” suggesting the full story behind the decision to censor The Post’s reporting could be revealed within hours or days.
“The public deserves to know what really happened …,” he added.