Twitter CEO Elon Musk took a trip to the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to speak with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the billionaire tech mogul reported on his social media platform.
“Just met with [McCarthy] & [Jeffries] to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties,” Musk posted online.
Just met with @SpeakerMcCarthy & @RepJeffries to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2023
McCarthy, who had his 58th birthday on Thursday, responded to reporters asking what he and Musk discussed by saying, “He came to wish me happy birthday. We’ve been friends for years.”
JUST IN 🚨 @elonmusk visits Capitol Hill, Speaker Kevin McCarthy says Twitter CEO came to wish him ‘Happy Birthday’
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) January 26, 2023
Breitbart News noted that Musk is a “longtime McCarthy donor,” and that he appeared at a Wyoming Republican retreat hosted by McCarthy last summer.
Musk’s meeting with Jeffries was incidental, according to the New York Post.
Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) also reportedly met with Musk, staying in the speaker’s office for almost an hour while he was still there. He notably is also slated to chair the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and has indicated he will be looking deeper into the “Twitter files,” especially its revelation that the FBI sent Twitter over $3 million after the two groups worked together.
46. The FBI’s influence campaign may have been helped by the fact that it was paying Twitter millions of dollars for its staff time.
“I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!” reports an associate of Jim Baker in early 2021. pic.twitter.com/SmNse97QxK
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022
This meeting comes before a planned congressional hearing in February, in which the House Oversight Committee will be addressing Twitter’s censorship of the New York Post’s October 2020 bombshell story surrounding the questionable contents found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
As the outlet points out, Twitter banned the forwarding of stories that potentially implicate Joe Biden due to his son’s foreign business relationships weeks ahead of the 2020 election, falsely alleging that the articles broke an anti “hacked materials” rule.
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) informed former Twitter officials Yoel Roth, Vijaya Gadde, and James Baker that the hearing will investigate their conduct and requested they show up.
Should they not come of their own volition, the panel can vote to force their appearance.
