Trump in Arizona: 'We don't have freedom of the press. We have suppression of the press'
'Here’s a guy who gets caught,' Trump said, referring to Joe Biden’s son. 'And the media doesn’t want to write about it'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Trump told supporters in Arizona on Wednesday that the U.S. does not have freedom of the press after the New York Post’s Hunter Biden stories were censored on social media.
“Here’s a guy who gets caught,” Trump said, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son. “And the media doesn’t want to write about it. You know what they call it? Not freedom of the press, suppression of the press.”
“We don’t have freedom of the press, we have suppression of the press,” Trump added during his rally in Bullhead City, Ariz. “There’s never been a time that it’s been more obvious than right now.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TWITTER CEO DORSEY PRESSED BY CRUZ ON RESTRICTING HUNTER BIDEN STORIES: 'WHO THE HELL ELECTED YOU?'
He said the Democratic Party and the “lamestream media” were “totally joined” with Big Tech, and made a slashing motion at his throat when he asked the crowd about Section 230.
Meanwhile, tech executives on Wednesday fielded questions from lawmakers analyzing Section 230 protections, which prevents social media platforms from being liable for content posted through their services. The hearing was called after Twitter blocked users from sharing the New York Post story containingemails about an alleged meeting arranged by Hunter between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a Ukrainian executive at the energy firm where Hunter sat on the board.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republicans hounded Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO; Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO; and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s Alphabet, Inc., about why they’d censored the story.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted Dorsey, asking the Twitter CEO "who the hell elected you" for censoring what media outlets report on. He noted that a New York Times report about the president's tax returns was not held to the same level of scrutiny, even though they appeared to be leaked illegally.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Mr. Dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the American people are allowed to hear, and why do you persist in behaving as a Democratic super PAC silencing views to the contrary of your political beliefs?" the Texas Republican asked.
Dorsey claimed that this was not the case. He also denied that Twitter has the ability to influence elections, a claim that Cruz derided as "absurd."
“You’re testifying to this committee right now that Twitter, when it silences people, when it censors people, when it blocks political speech, that has no impact on elections?”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“People have choice of other communication channels,” Dorsey said.
“Not if they don’t hear information,” Cruz shot back. “If you don’t think you have the power to influence elections, why do you block anything?”
Later in the hearing, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., challenged Dorsey's claim that Twitter does not influence elections with their policies or actions. He also challenged the company's decision to censor the Post's reporting, as well as Facebook's decision to flag it.
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"Do either one of you have any evidence that the New York Post story is part of Russian disinformation or that those emails aren't authentic?" Johnson asked Dorsey and Zuckerberg.
"We don't," Dorsey said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.