KEY POINTS
- Pence called Twitter’s censorship of the New York Post’s story a ‘disgrace’
- He also slammed the Biden administration for saying it is ‘keeping an eye on’ Twitter over misinformation
- Twitter and Facebook prohibited users from sharing the New York Post article in 2020
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday said that he supports Elon Musk‘s push to release files related to Twitter‘s censorship of a story about First Son Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.
Speaking during an appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” talk show, Pence, 63, agreed with Musk’s plans to release files linked to the suppression of the New York Post’s October 2020 story, adding that the censorship was a “disgrace.”
“Elon Musk is exactly right,” Pence said.
The former vice president also went on to slam the Biden administration a day after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said they are “keeping an eye on” Twitter over concerns about “misinformation” under Musk’s ownership.
Pence suggested the Biden administration is probably nervous that the “Twitter files” Musk has said he will release will likely include internal memos that shed light on Twitter’s decision to censor the story on Hunter.
“The fact that a laptop was discovered in the weeks before the election, that emails were revealed and that social media platforms, including Twitter, actually suppressed access to a New York Post story is deeply offensive to me,” Pence added. “The fact that they’re going to come out with the information, I have to believe that some people are walking around in the West Wing — it’s one of the reasons they’re keeping a close eye.”
In October 2020, the New York Post reported Hunter had introduced his father to Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, less than a year before the elder Biden allegedly pressured Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company.
At the time of the supposed meet-up, the elder Biden was serving as the vice president under the Obama administration, the New York Post wrote in its story, citing emails it obtained from a laptop that Hunter allegedly abandoned at a computer repair shop in Delaware in April 2019.
When the story came out, Twitter — then headed by CEO Jack Dorsey — and Facebook prohibited users from sharing the article. In addition, the New York Post was locked out of its Twitter account for over two weeks due to claims that the story used hacked information.
