Disinformation Inc: Conservative blacklist network accused in IRS complaint of violating law

Gabe Kaminsky

May 04, 02:54 PM May 04, 03:18 PM

EXCLUSIVE — A pair of U.S. nonprofit groups tied to the Global Disinformation Index, a British entity covertly blacklisting conservative media, are being slapped with an IRS complaint for allegedly violating federal law.

The charity Disinformation Index Inc., and its affiliated private AN Foundation, also known as the Disinformation Index Foundation, cited an obscure federal "harassment" exemption law in providing the Washington Examiner in late March with heavily redacted copies of its 2021 tax forms. The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog, is now accusing both State Department-funded groups of running afoul of several federal rules and regulations, calling on the IRS to "revoke their tax-exempt status," according to a complaint filed Thursday with the agency.

DISINFORMATION INC: HOUSE GOP STEPS UP 'CENSORSHIP' INQUIRY INTO BLINKEN'S STATE DEPARTMENT

"This complaint is based on information regarding the questionable activities of these two organizations by investigative reporter Gabe Kaminsky in a series of recent news stories in the Washington Examiner and information found in their respective Form 990s and other public reports," the watchdog wrote in its complaint. "As will be demonstrated herein, both the Disinformation Index, Inc. and its related AN Foundation (formerly Disinformation Index Foundation) have violated a number of IRS rules and regulations."

GDI pocketed roughly $960,000 combined between 2020 and 2022 from both the State Department's Global Engagement Center, an interagency under fire from House Republicans for funding purported disinformation tracking initiatives, and the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit group authorized by the government that is funded almost entirely through congressional appropriations. This revelation has resulted in lawmakers, including House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), launching investigations into GDI to uncover government records.

In mid-April, the Washington Examiner reported on how the AN Foundation and its charity affiliate redacted or omitted key details from public disclosure copies of their 2021 tax forms, including the names of board members, officers, and in the case of the private group, the source of a $115,000 donation. Multiple experienced tax experts claimed this maneuver fails to comply with federal disclosure laws despite GDI alleging that it is "withholding" information due to regulations on "harassment campaigns" against tax-exempt groups.

But it remains unclear whether GDI has been approved by the government for the exemption, which tax experts say does not allow groups to redact their financial disclosures from public view. GDI has not replied to numerous Washington Examiner requests for a ruling on receiving the exemption it cited.

In its Thursday complaint, the NLPC alleged that the two GDI U.S. groups are skirting IRS disclosure rules by not listing their relationship to the British group on federal tax forms. Upon receiving complaints, the IRS mails acknowledgments to referral groups but does not provide them with updates due to confidentiality laws, according to the agency, which occasionally assesses financial penalties.

Among a swath of other demands, the watchdog seeks an investigation into whether the British group's executive director, Danny Rogers, who is listed interchangeably in Delaware corporate records with GDI CEO Clare Melford as a board member and officer for the two U.S. groups, received "excessive and unreasonable compensation."

NLPC is referring to the fact that the U.S. charity disclosed on 2021 federal disclosures paying its unnamed president, who, according to 2020 forms, is Rogers, almost $60,000, plus over $8,100 in additional compensation “from the organization and related organizations." However, the forms also say the president worked two hours per week, which, according to the watchdog, amounts to a whopping $1,300 per hour.

"It is hypocritical that a group whose mission is to censor conservative media for alleged 'disinformation' is itself guilty of hiding its funding sources and redacting the names of its officers from public view," said Paul Kamenar, counsel to the watchdog, which filed several a complaint in April 2022 against the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation for allegedly misusing donor funds.

Moreover, the watchdog took aim in the IRS complaint at the AN Foundation for not reporting the entity that gave it $115,000 in 2021. Private foundations, unlike charities, are ordinarily required to disclose their contributors, according to the IRS.

With regard to the tax form redactions, the NLPC called on the IRS to fine both the AN Foundation and Disinformation Index for not handing over an "exact copy" of their federal disclosures as filed with the IRS. Tax-exempt groups are supposed to provide the public with copies mirroring those provided to the federal government, according to the agency.

Marcus Owens, a lawyer representing GDI, claimed in an April 6 letter to the Washington Examiner that "families" of the groups, and its "personnel," have been targeted with "multiple threats and hacking attacks, including threats of violence against their children." Owens added that GDI is "working [with] appropriate law enforcement authorities, telecommunications and Internet organizations" and "has appropriately withheld information that could lead to furtherance of this behavior."

However, the watchdog's complaint further noted that GDI's stated reason for these tax form omissions "has nothing to do with the inundation of Form 990 requests in a coordinated harassment campaign, but rather the claim that its officers and children are being threatened and subject to hacking attacks."

The regulation GDI cited as evidence of a purported harassment campaign typically pertains to an instance in which hundreds, if not thousands, of parties are requesting tax forms from a group and making it difficult for the entity to stay afloat, according to tax experts. The Washington Examiner is not aware of whether other entities have also requested GDI's tax forms.

"But if that were truly the reason to redact the officers' and accountants' names, that information is publicly available in their prior disclosure reports and on GDI’s website," the complaint read. "In any event, in order to obtain the exemption, the group has to document the harassment campaign and get approval for withholding the forms, information which Mr. Owens has yet to provide."

GDI and the IRS did not return a request for comment.

Twitter Files: White House pushed Twitter to censor COVID-19 'misinformation'

Misty Severi

December 26, 01:31 PM December 26, 01:31 PM

The White House pressured Twitter to suppress tweets that included "misinformation" about the COVID-19 pandemic, even when Twitter users shared information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the latest string of bombshells from the Twitter Files, the current White House "rigged the COVID debate" by censoring information that was "inconvenient to government policy," discrediting doctors and experts who disagreed with the administration's narrative, and by suppressing ordinary users, including those who shared data from the CDC, journalist David Zweig tweeted Monday.

TWITTER FILES: TECH GIANT WAS IN 'CONSTANT AND PERVASIVE' CONTACT WITH FBI

The campaign to suppress misinformation about the pandemic began under former President Donald Trump, Zweig said, but was continued under President Joe Biden. Biden's administration focused on removing the accounts of "anti-vaxxers," including former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who was banned in June of 2021.

“It doesn’t stop infection. Or transmission. Don’t think of it as a vaccine,” Berenson tweeted about the COVID-19 vaccine. “Think of it — at best — as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed in advance of illness.”

Two doctors were among the experts banned by the platform after one claimed that children or adults who already had the virus did not need the vaccine. The other was banned for claiming that the virus was less dangerous for children than the flu, which Zweig claimed was “legitimate but inconvenient to the public health establishment’s narrative about the risks of flu versus COVID in children.”

The White House shared its discontent with Twitter's lack of "aggressive" action against those who questioned the vaccine and its critics as recently as earlier this month, according to Zweig, who cited Twitter's head of U.S. public policy.

Zweig also determined that Twitter's moderation was largely done by bots or contractors in places such as the Philippines, where their lack of medical expertise contributed to a large number of errors in its censorship. However, high levels of bias among former Twitter leadership also contributed to the censorship, according to Zweig.

The latest report comes after previous revelations showed that the CIA, FBI, and other government agencies had pressured Twitter to cave to political pressure. The report is part of the "Twitter Files," which refers to the investigation from new Twitter CEO Elon Musk into the previous happenings of the social media platform, including Twitter's handling of Hunter Biden's laptop, the blacklisting of certain conservative accounts, and the decision-making process relating to Trump's suspension.

Trump likens US to 'person dying of cancer' in fiery tirade against FBI

Ryan King

December 17, 01:33 PM December 17, 01:34 PM

Former President Donald Trump likened the current outlook of the United States to a "person dying of cancer" in a scathing Truth Social post about the FBI.

Talking about Friday's fresh revelations from the Twitter Files that the social media giant had "constant and pervasive" communications with the bureau, Trump declared that such "thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with," or else, the country could meet its demise.

REP. BRAD WENSTRUP SAYS THAT TRUST IN FBI IS 'WANING' IN CONGRESS AMID TWITTER FILES

"Our Country is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer. The Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of 'Justice,' and 'Intelligence,' all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer. These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

On Friday, journalist Matt Taibbi revealed that the FBI often flagged content for Twitter to review for content moderation purposes and underscored that there had been over 150 emails between the bureau and former Twitter trust and safety chief Yoel Roth between January 2020 to November 2022. At one point, Twitter executives had near weekly meetings with law enforcement officials, the journalist noted.

Newly anointed Twitter CEO Elon Musk has given sprawling internal Twitter access to Taibbi, journalist Bari Weiss, and author Michael Shellenberger, who have released the so-called Twitter Files outlining internal company deliberations on content moderation and key flashpoints such as the suspension of Trump's account following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"This (the FBI’s wild and crazy relationship with Twitter) is absolutely a coordinated effort to change Election Results! It worked, but they got caught. This is why people protested in Washington. Our 2020 Presidential Election was Crooked, Rigged, and Stolen, and yet the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks & Thugs didn’t spend any time investigating this outrage!" the former president wrote in another post.

Earlier this week, Trump vowed to ban the federal government from "colluding with any organization" if he retakes the White House in 2024. He laid out a litany of measures he would pursue in a hypothetical second term as president to counter the concerns conservatives have raised about censorship in light of the Twitter Files.

His policy announcement, which came Thursday, was overshadowed by the debut of the Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection, in which his followers could pay $99 for a digital card bearing his likeness. Some of his closest allies, such as Steve Bannon, criticized the move. Nevertheless, the collection reportedly sold out and amassed $4.5 million.

'Twitter Files' lead to pushback on Biden's COVID-19 social media efforts

Haisten Willis

December 12, 07:00 AM December 12, 07:00 AM

The second batch of the "Twitter Files" brought with it new questions about the Biden administration's possible role in coordinating with social media companies to censor disfavored voices.

Along with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, conservative commentator Dan Bongino, and Chaya Raichik, the owner of Libs of TikTok, files released Thursday showed that Stanford University professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya landed on Twitter's blacklist over his views on COVID-19.

TWITTER 'SHADOWBANNED' POLITICAL CANDIDATES UNDER OLD OWNERSHIP, MUSK SAYS

Bhattacharya had already sued the Biden administration over its alleged teaming with social media companies to censor scientific opinions on COVID-19 policies. Dubbing it the "Ministry of Truth," he joined a suit with the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana in June.

Armed with fresh information that his account had, in fact, been placed on a trends blacklist, apparently for arguing that lockdowns would harm children, Bhattacharya spoke with WHD News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday night.

“It feels like some novel from the 1950s where the House Un-American Committee is meeting to decide who to suppress and I'm some sort of movie star in Hollywood that they’re blacklisting because I'm a communist or something," he said. "It’s ridiculous, and it really hurt public health.”

The professor added that he feels "very strongly" that the government was involved and that real harm resulted from suppressing the discussion.

"If we had an open discussion, Laura, the schools would not have closed in the fall of 2020. If we had an open discussion, the lockdowns would have been lifted much earlier because the data and evidence behind them was so bad," he said on the show.

Bhattacharya was one of three primary signers of the so-called Great Barrington Declaration, along with scientists from Oxford and Harvard, that argued in October 2020 for "focused protection" for those most at risk from the disease, with the rest of society functioning more or less normally.

Freedom of Information Act requests later found that then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins called for a "quick and devastating published takedown" of the idea.

Conservatives have long decried the Biden administration's efforts toward what they call censorship of voices on the Right, including collaboration with social media sites and efforts like the doomed Department of Homeland Security Disinformation Governance Board. But while the new Twitter files advance that narrative somewhat, they're far from conclusive, argues the Cato Institute's Will Duffield.

"It’s kind of a mixed bag," he said of the Twitter Files to date. "It shows how moderation tools developed for one purpose can creep into much more politically salient areas without any kind of public debate or deliberation in a way that really undermines trust."

However, Duffield added that there's little revealed in the latest batch that speaks to particular government involvement. He argues that the White House's response to the controversy should be to release any emails the campaign sent Twitter in relation to COVID-19 and the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.

The government took on massively expanded powers at the beginning of the pandemic, initially under the Trump administration and then under the Biden White House, which it has been reluctant to relinquish.

Several pandemic powers have been rescinded only at the pen of a judge, while President Joe Biden is still fighting for others, such as the student loan pause. The Senate recently voted 62-36 to end the state of emergency granting the president expanded powers, which Joe Biden has promised to veto.

Some say censorship has come with the expanded powers.

"We write to continue our investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to stifle lawful First Amendment-protected speech of American citizens in public online settings,” wrote Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee on Nov. 3. “The Biden Administration continues to suppress free speech and discredit legitimate criticism as mis-, dis-, or mal- information."

GOP committee members have promised to hold hearings and investigations upon taking power in January.

Asked Friday about its involvement with Twitter censorship, specifically the role of former general counsel James Baker, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "We were not involved."

Heritage Foundation research assistant Jake Denton thought the second round of Twitter Files showcased a wide-ranging censorship effort.

"This was an institutionalized censorship apparatus," said Denton, who at one point was banned from Twitter himself. "We have so many examples of this censorship, and I think what Dr. Bhattacharya is voicing is absolutely correct. I think the only question that remains is the scale to which the Biden administration was actually involved in the censorship."

Like Duffield, Denton called on the White House to release its own series of files in order for the public to understand the full story.

"If [the Biden administration is] aware of communications that are likely going to come out, they should say the extent to which they’ve coordinated with Silicon Valley to shape the narrative," he said. "If they have any integrity, they will get ahead of the news cycle and come forward."

Part Four of Musk's 'Twitter Files' reveals decision process post-Jan. 6 protests

Christopher Hutton

December 10, 09:01 PM December 10, 09:01 PM

The latest release of the Twitter Files reveal shifting opinions among executives about how to handle the effects of January 6 and the protests.

The fourth edition of the Files was released by journalist Michael Shellenberger on Saturday, and went into details on Twitter's changes in decision making on Jan. 7, the day after thousands gathered and rushed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

Senior executives at Twitter "create[d] justifications to ban Trump," attempt to "seek a change of policy for Trump alone distinct from other political leaders" and "express[ed] no concern for the free speech or democracy implications of a ban," claims Shellenberger.

TWITTER FILES: DONALD TRUMP'S REMOVAL FROM PLATFORM EXPLAINED IN LATEST RELEASE

Yoel Roth, the former Twitter Head of Trust and Safety, had pushed for a change to Twitter's rule system where a user who violates the platform's terms of service five times lead to a permanent suspension. The new system was approved late Jan. 7, according to messages sent by Roth to colleagues.

"The exchange between Roth and his colleagues makes clear that they had been pushing [former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey] for greater restrictions on the speech Twitter allows around elections," Shellenberger argued.

The change in rules doesn't appear to directly affect Trump's future on the platform due to him only having one strike on the account.

Shellenberger also claims that he found no evidence of employees expressing concerns about the free speech effects that banning the former President would have besides a single comment from a junior employee.

Shellenberger's release is the latest in a series of threads posted by him and fellow reporter Bari Weiss regarding the internal machinations of Twitter. Weiss published details about Twitter's "blacklist" policy on Thursday, while Taibbi provided details about the website's ban on a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop. The third entry in the Files was released on Friday and detailed Twitter's internal dialog about content moderation and how to handle election misinformation.

The results have been contested, with critics arguing that the Twitter Files have not revealed any significant or new information about the platform.

WATCH: Sarah Westwood argues Twitter only gave excuses on Hunter Biden suppression

Steff Thomas

December 08, 02:09 PM December 08, 02:09 PM

The Washington Examiner's Sarah Westwood says Twitter gave “every excuse” about why they suppressed the Hunter Biden story, but it wasn’t enough to keep the truth from coming out.

“They gave every excuse in the book to try to suppress it and eventually they were exposed as being incredibly partisan,” Westwood said Thursday morning on Fox Business's Mornings with Maria Bartiromo.

TOP FIVE REVELATIONS FROM MUSK’S DISCLOSURE ON HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP SUPPRESSION

Twitter CEO Elon Musk made good on his promise last week to drop new information about the company’s behind-the-scenes machinations about the suppression from 2020.

As House Republicans are preparing to take legal action against former Twitter lawyer James Baker, who was fired on Tuesday for his role in the suppression, Westwood said she wasn’t surprised that material that could be damaging to the social media platform was destroyed.

“Look at the lengths that Twitter executives were willing to go to suppress the Hunter Biden story. It was clear they wanted to take the story off the air,” she told host Maria Bartiromo, adding that it was Baker who was tasked with vetting information.

“This is sort of a sanitized version of the truth that we have so far,” Westwood said.

She also pointed out that Baker was closely allied with President Joe Biden and with Democrats.

They didn’t want any amplification of the story, so they went in search of justification that would allow them to suppress the story and “move the goalpost so many times,” when asked about the New York Post’s story, including making up false stories about the information being stolen, fake, or unable to be verified, Westwood explained.

The actions of Baker, who was also the person who pushed the Russia collusion “lie” during the 2020 election cycle, brought Republicans' fears to light and gave them weight.

“I think that's the frustrating thing for a lot of Republicans [and] conservatives watching this … this confirms what they had suspected all along about Twitter,” Westwood said.

“If you sort of expressed the view that Twitter was … in a partisan manner, suppressing this story to help Biden, that was sort of painted as a conspiracy theory and now we’re seeing hard evidence that that was true,” she added.

Mainstream media outlets lashed out at Musk and journalist Matt Taibbi, who was tasked with going through the so-called Twitter Files and providing analysis. When asked if it was surprising to see reporters attacking each other, Westwood said no.

“I think that a lot of the mainstream media reporters have no problem ‘eating their own’ if they cross the party line. And Matt Taibbi has been the target of that kind of criticism for a while,” she said.

“He’s someone who was a classically liberal writer for years and he sort of stayed in the center of the [liberalism],” Westwood told Fox host Joe Concha, adding that Taibbi has been a champion of freedom of speech and pushing back against the power of corporations.

“The rest of the Democratic Party sort of shifted to back elitism … [and] the consolidation of government power and corporate power in these really concerning ways like we’re seeing with Twitter,” she said.

Westwood gave examples such as Twitter colluding with the FBI and the Biden administration to suppress stories about COVID-19 and even Democrats who were unfavorable, calling the hypocrisy “unsurprising.”

“It’s not surprising to see people who hold themselves up to support free speech squashing [Taibbi’s] actual support of it,” she added.

Dorsey confronts Musk over release of unfiltered 'Twitter Files'

Heather Hamilton

December 08, 08:00 AM December 08, 08:06 AM

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey urged the social media platform’s new CEO Elon Musk to release the entirety of the remaining “Twitter Files” following the firing of its general counsel James Baker.

On Tuesday, Baker was “exited” from Twitter following the “Twitter files” information dump, which included the social media platform’s behind-the-scenes musings on the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story. Musk claimed Baker gave "unconvincing" answers when questioned about his role in the suppression of the story.

WATCH: REP. JAMES COMER SUGGESTS ‘TWITTER FILES’ SHOW GOVERNMENT ‘COVER-UP’

Musk has hinted at releasing even more content that seems to show “a very different standard applied to Republican candidates in the U.S. versus Democrat candidates.”

On Wednesday, Dorsey called on Musk to do so “without filter,” and explain Twitter’s plans for addressing “transparency” concerns that have arisen.

“If the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without filter and let people judge for themselves?” Dorsey tweeted. “Including all discussions around current and future actions? Make everything public now.”

Musk responded to Dorsey: "Most important data was hidden (from you too) and some may have been deleted, but everything we find will be released."

Earlier this week, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) suggested information contained in the “Twitter files” indicates “a cover-up at the highest levels of government to protect Joe Biden.”

Delays, news dumps, and disappointment: Everything you need to know about the Twitter Files

Cami Mondeaux

December 05, 07:33 AM December 05, 07:33 AM

After the release of the much-anticipated “Twitter Files,” several conservatives are lamenting what they call unfair censorship of voices on the Right while others say the report isn’t exactly the smoking gun they were hoping for.

The Twitter Files is a collection of documents and internal communications from inside the company that details the behind-the-scenes decision-making of some of the social media platform’s top executives to suppress news stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020. Twitter CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has long teased the release of the report after taking control of the company in October as part of his pledge to increase transparency on the site.

Musk teased the release of the files early Friday, announcing that journalist Matt Taibbi would be rolling out the report’s findings at 5 p.m. EST. However, Twitter users were left waiting in anticipation as Musk announced a delay because the company was “double-checking some facts.”

ELON MUSK PUTS DNC ON NOTICE AS HE WARNS OF ‘SMOKING GUNS’

Just after 6:30 p.m., Taibbi posted a lengthy Twitter thread with a comprehensive dump of the report’s findings that showed the company “took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be ‘unsafe.’”

Taibbi shared multiple screenshots of internal conversations between Twitter employees showing certain posts that had been flagged by members of the Biden administration or the Democratic National Committee.

However, he ultimately found there was no evidence showing the government was involved in censoring the story, noting that decision was made at "the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey." Some conservative journalists who have written extensively about the story disputed those findings, lamenting the seemingly lackluster findings of the report.

“I feel that Elon Musk has held back some material,” Miranda Devine, a reporter for the New York Post who has written extensively about the Hunter Biden laptop controversy, told Tucker Carlson on WHD News. “Is he holding something back, or is it just that Facebook really was first out of the blocks to censor the New York Post and Twitter followed suit? So I don’t know. I suspect that Elon Musk has been leaned on, and he’s kept a little bit of information in reserve."

Musk later announced on Saturday during a two-hour Twitter Spaces session that there would be a second information dump related to the Twitter Files and the company’s content moderation policies. It’s unclear whether Musk’s decision to release more files is in response to claims that he is withholding information, nor is it clear when the second information dump will take place.

Musk admitted his knowledge on the Twitter Files “is limited” as he has not read the report himself, but noted it seems to show “a very different standard applied to Republican candidates in the U.S. versus Democrat candidates.”

The CEO also hinted at “more smoking guns” that he wants to release to the public, but it’s not clear when that information will be released. However, he pledged that “the intent is to release all the files.”

WATCH: Elon Musk's Hunter Biden 'Twitter Files' are not a 'smoking gun', New York Post reporter says

Cami Mondeaux

December 03, 09:14 AM December 03, 09:14 AM

Just hours after Twitter CEO and billionaire Elon Musk released never-before-seen information regarding the social media platform’s decision to suppress news stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop in October 2020, some conservative journalists say the report isn’t exactly the smoking gun they had hoped for.

Miranda Devine, a reporter for the New York Post who has written extensively about the Hunter Biden laptop controversy, was seemingly unimpressed with the information that was revealed in the so-called Twitter Files, suspecting Musk may have “kept a little bit of information in reserve.”

“It’s not really the smoking gun we’d hoped for,” Devine told Tucker Carlson on WHD News Friday night. “I feel that Elon Musk has held back some material.”

ELON MUSK DROPS NEW DETAILS ON TWITTER’S SUPPRESSION OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP

Her comments come after journalist Matt Taibbi released the files on Twitter Friday night, showing the social media platform had mulled requests from political groups seeking to keep the story about Biden’s laptop hidden. Taibbi shared screenshots of internal conversations between Twitter employees showing certain posts that had been flagged by members of the Biden administration or the Democratic National Committee.

“Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be ‘unsafe,’” Taibbi said in a tweet. “They even blocked its transmission via direct message, a tool hitherto reserved for extreme cases, e.g. child pornography.”

However, he found there was no evidence showing the government was involved in censoring the story, noting that decision was made at "the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey."

Devine disputed those findings, claiming she had seen sworn affidavits from the former head of Twitter’s trust and safety that showed he had met with the FBI and other intelligence officials.

“They warned specifically of what they called a hack and leak operation, a dump of Russian disinformation,” Devine told Carlson.

This prompted the New York Post reporter to question whether Musk was influenced by government officials to keep some information under wraps.

“Is he holding something back or is it just that Facebook really was first out of the blocks to censor The New York Post and Twitter followed suit," she said. "So I don’t know. I suspect that Elon Musk has been leaned on and he’s kept a little bit of information in reserve."