POLITICO NIGHTLY: The Hunter Biden investigations, Act I

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BY CALDER MCHUGH

With help from Ari Hawkins

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) discusses the past suspension of her Twitter account during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

TWEETSTORM — Even a power outage on Capitol Hill today couldn’t stop House Republicans from pursuing one of their top priorities — investigating President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.

The House Oversight Committee conducted a hearing — partly in the dark after the lights went out briefly in the committee room — to focus on Twitter’s suppression of an October 2020 New York Post story. The article focused on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, which allegedly contained business correspondence, sexually explicit photographs and videos and notes from meetings, among a lot of other data, though forensic analysts have been unable to authenticate much of its contents.

Twitter temporarily suspended the Post’s official account and tried to block the link being shared by users due to their policy on sharing hacked materials, which they later amended after a public outcry, noting it was difficult to ascertain dangerous versus contentious speech during the heat of a campaign. Former high-ranking Twitter officials Vijaya Gadde, Jim Baker and Yoel Roth all testified today and admitted mistakes in the handling of the controversial story.

The high-profile hearing was an airing of social media grievances, featuring props and lawmakers grousing about their personal interactions with Twitter or even their own temporary bans from the site. Nightly spoke with POLITICO’s Rebecca Kern , a tech policy reporter covering the hearing, about today’s events and what’s next now that House Republicans can set the agenda. This conversation has been edited.

Set the stage for us on today’s Twitter hearing. Why is this taking place?

It’s the first in a series from the House Oversight Committee, trying to investigate the Biden family and alleged government influence and or collusion with large tech companies to stifle free speech. The committee brought in three former Twitter executives, who all have left the company, to testify about their role in removing Hunter Biden laptop reporting from the New York Post in October 2020. House Oversight Republicans are trying to assert that there was some government pressure from Biden’s campaign or FBI to censor the story. Although, all of the executives, when asked ‘did you have contact from the FBI before removing the story,’ said no. They say they removed it because it violated a hacked materials policy, because they thought at the time the story was not authentic. They reversed that decision 24 hours later and have since apologized; all of the executives started the hearing saying it was a mistake to take it down.

But, we’re also getting a taste of where Republicans priorities are when it comes to going after the Biden family and Hunter Biden. That’s why they held the hearings.

What points have Oversight Committee Democrats and Republicans tried to make, and how much of the hearings today were taken up by political theater?

Some of the theater we saw today was from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose personal Twitter account was banned for a year for violating Twitter’s Covid misinformation policies. She spent her five minutes telling the witnesses that since she couldn’t talk for a year, she wouldn’t let them talk. A lot of Republican lawmakers brought large printouts of tweets that they say were removed because there was conservative bias against them.

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) tried to move the topic to extremist content on Twitter leading up to January 6. He brought in a witness, a former Twitter employee on the trust and safety team who had previously testified on January 6 issues, to say that rhetoric that incited the event was allowed to fester on Twitter without being taken down.

Both sides spent the day trying to score political points; Republicans saying that these platforms censor conservatives, whereas Democrats said they actually don’t remove enough extremist content.

What did we learn today from the hearings that we didn’t know before? 

I do think maybe Republicans thought there’d be more fireworks, and that these executives would defend their actions more. But they really were pretty humble, and said that after reviewing the New York Post’s reporting, it didn’t seem to violate their policy, so they reinstated that. Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s former chief legal officer, said clearly in her opening statement that it was a mistake to block the Post’s Twitter account for two weeks, which is what they did. She said that thinking back, she would have reinstated them immediately; that was new, I hadn’t heard that. But, because all of the witnesses were former Twitter employees, they didn’t have access to any internal files from Twitter anymore that could have told us more.

A lot of the discussion at the hearing centered around Hunter Biden. How much was the discussion around Twitter’s content moderation a way in to talk about him? 

I think it is the way in. Republicans are starting a Hunter Biden family investigation into his business dealings with Burisma [the Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden served, ultimately triggering the series of events leading to President Donald Trump’s first impeachment] and overseas businesses. So, they’re trying to use this as a smoking gun. But Raskin has argued that the FBI has had Hunter Biden’s computer, if there was anything that needed to be investigated, they would have done it, or we would have that answer already. So, the White House is calling it a political stunt.

Did either side get what they hoped out of the hearing? Was either side successful in making a strong argument?

The Twitter executives said that they did not have correspondence with the FBI or the Biden campaign, so I don’t know if Republicans were successful in that argument. They’ve been more successful with arguments that, in having certain conservatives being removed, social media companies are acting like they are the government when they’re not elected.

I don’t think one side convinced another, but I don’t know if that was their goal — I think they were maybe talking to their bases.

How much more investigation into Hunter Biden can we expect going forward? 

In Congress, I think this is a top priority for Republicans. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of House Oversight, has said investigating Hunter Biden, his family and big tech collusion is a top priority.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on Twitter at @calder_mchugh .

Tomorrow morning six governors are in the POLITICO hot seat at our The Fifty: Governors event. Will New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu run against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2024? What are Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s plans for the national stage, after signing an assault weapons sales ban, expanded abortion coverage and guaranteed paid leave laws in 2023?

We’re talking to leaders in toss-up states like North Carolina and Minnesota, and will dive into issues from clean energy to cannabis, and abortion to police reform, and how these state dynamics might impact the 2024 presidential cycle. Register here to watch from 9:15 a.m. EST .

WHAT'D I MISS?

— DeSantis on Trump’s attack: ‘I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today responded to Trump’s latest attack, saying he won’t “smear” fellow Republicans . Speaking at a press conference in Ocala, Fla., the GOP governor and prospective 2024 presidential candidate was responding to questions on Trump’s latest broadside. On Tuesday, Trump, who already announced he’s running for president, reposted a message on social media sarcastically insinuating DeSantis is grooming teenage girls. “I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden — That’s how I spend my time,” DeSantis said. “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”

— Appeals court backs N.C. attorney general in battle to avoid criminal libel prosecution: A federal appeals court has sided with North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein in his bid to avoid prosecution under a state law criminalizing “derogatory” statements related to political candidates . In a ruling today, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals did not outright prohibit a North Carolina district attorney from going forward with a highly unusual prosecution of Stein over his claims related to a rival’s handling of rape test kits. But the appeals court’s decision makes it highly likely that a lower federal court will preclude such a development.

— Dems defect on traveler vax: Seven House Democrats joined with all House Republicans to approve a measure that would overturn a rule requiring most foreign travelers to have Covid vaccines prior to entering the country . The bill ultimately passed 227-201, though it’s extremely unlikely to move in the Senate. The list of defectors include Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Don Davis (D-N.C.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.).

AROUND THE WORLD

A girl searches a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, followed by a 7.5-magnitude tremor, hit the region. The quakes caused widespread destruction in southern Turkey and northern Syria and were felt in nearby countries. | Burak Kara/Getty Images

TURKEY’S TWITTER BLACKOUT — Access to Twitter has been restricted in Turkey after it was struck, along with Syria, by earthquakes that left more than 12,000 dead as of this afternoon. The blockages have complicated rescue efforts and underscored growing efforts to suppress the flow of information, Nightly’s Ari Hawkins reports.

The internet monitoring firm Netblocks said Twitter, which boasts more than 16 million users in Turkey, is currently not accessible from two of the three main internet providers — TurkTelekom and Turkcell, while a third provider, Vodafone, allows access to Twitter, but at a slower speed.

The restrictions come amid growing frustration from the Turkish public as a result of the government’s response to Monday’s devastating earthquake. Rescue teams have struggled to cope across southern Turkey and northern Syria, where the damage is most severe, and some have voiced concerns over a lack of equipment.

Alp Toker , a web browser technologist and founder of NetBlocks, said the coordinated nature of Twitter’s blockage suggests the outage is the result of a government order.

“This is the 20th or so instance we’ve tracked showing government blackouts of information sources like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in the region,” Toker told Nightly in an interview. “This type of information throttling and traffic filtering is the go-to method of communication obstruction during times of emergency. But this is the first time the government’s restrictions were implemented under the guise of a natural disaster.”

The government of Turkey has escalated its social media crackdown in recent months. Earlier today, Turkish police announced they had detained 18 people and arrested five more over social media posts about the earthquake. And President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan similarly advised the Turkish press “not to give an opportunity to those who give these provocations an opportunity."

On Tuesday, Erdoğan announced a 90-day emergency period which allows him to take swift security and financial measures in areas affected by the disaster.

The restrictions also come as Erdoğan stares down a May election, which is shaping up to be one of the toughest electoral races of his two decades in power.

Toker’s report matches descriptions from Twitter users in Turkey, who have used the social media to coordinate relief efforts after Monday’s devastating earthquake. And cyber security experts and human rights activists say that Twitter was the main source of communications for many people searching for survivors and coordinating aid delivery.

“Twitter has been absolutely central to the recovery, which itself has been mostly community led … At the same time, there’s a looming election, which certainly plays a role in how the government thinks about this type of dissent,” Toker said.

The Turkish death toll has risen to at least 8,574 with around 50,000 more reported injured, Erdogan announced in a televised briefing. In Syria, the total death count stands above 1,400, according to the “White Helmets,” a volunteer organization that operates in parts of Syria and rejects the ruling government.

 

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NIGHTLY NUMBER

$191 Billion The estimated total amount of pandemic unemployment benefits that were wrongly sent out in 2022 with a “significant portion attributable to fraud,” according to testimony from the Labor Department released earlier today to the House Ways and Means Committee. DOL Inspector General Larry D. Turner said the department now believes $30 billion more in unemployment benefits were improperly paid compared to its previous calculations — 21.5 percent versus 18.7 percent of the total last year, which was pegged at $163 billion. Federal officials have acknowledged that they cannot precisely identify how much federal aid was wrongfully set out related to unemployment benefits.

RADAR SWEEP

FAMILIAR FEELING — We all know the sensation. You walk into a place you’ve never been but are suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of familiarity – but it’s a memory you can’t quite put your finger on. The term déjà vu, which means “already seen” in French, has traditionally been a difficult subject of study as the feeling seems to appear suddenly and dissipate quickly. But a growing number of researchers now say that the feeling could actually be providing a peek into how the human memory system functions and what it looks like when things go out of whack. In particular, researchers believe that the feeling might be what happens when parts of your brain recognize familiar situations, but aren’t activated appropriately. When that happens, another part of your brain checks the familiar feeling alongside your past experiences and when no actual matches are found, the result is a discomfiting sense of having lived it all before. Read Stephanie Pappas ’s full investigation into the changing researcher consensus around déjà vu for Scientific American.

PARTING WORDS

The 2022 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature went to "Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)." This year, among the nominees are two films. Of the five films shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for this year’s best documentary, one is about Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and another is “A House Made of Splinters,” about a Ukrainian orphanage in the war-torn east of the country. The competition between the two has sparked a conflict between Ukrainians and the Russian opposition. | David Livingston/Getty Images

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO — The Oscars are wading into a Russian-Ukrainian geopolitical minefield, writes POLITICO EU’s Nika Melkozerova .

Of the five films shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for this year’s best documentary, one is about Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and another is “A House Made of Splinters,” about a Ukrainian orphanage in the war-torn east of the country.

While neither film will warm the heart of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the competition between the two has sparked a conflict between Ukrainians and the Russian opposition .

“Navalny,” directed by Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher and produced by HBO Max and CNN Films, tells the story of the opposition leader who led a growing political movement against Putin, was almost killed by a nerve agent and then returned to Moscow despite the threat of arrest; he’s now languishing in a Russian prison. The movie does touch on Navalny’s nationalist views and his dalliance with far-right forces, but it’s all too little for Ukrainians aghast at Navalny’s stance on the 2014 occupation of Crimea.

Ukrainians, deeply traumatized by the ongoing Russian invasion, see the documentary as an attempt to whitewash Navalny, who they accuse of still being a Russian nationalist despite his opposition to Putin.

Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer with the Anti-Corruption Action Center, complains that Navalny’s backers have been pressing for his release, but haven’t done much to protest the war.

“They were silent for 11 months of the war, but now that Oscar is on the horizon, they have become more active and imitate the anti-war movement. If the Academy awards them an award, it will be another tone-deaf gesture,” Shevchuk said.

Meanwhile, the website goldderby.com, which predicts Oscar winners, suggests that it’s likely neither will take home the prize — of the five nominated films, “Navalny” has the third-best odds at victory while “A House Made of Splinters” has the fifth-best.

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