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Sen. Judiciary Committee to vote to subpoena Twitter CEO over censorship of Hunter Biden exposé

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The Senate Judiciary Committee announced that on Tuesday they will vote to subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over his platform suppressing two New York Post articles about exclusively obtained emails alleging that Hunter Biden took advantage of the position of his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, in his business dealings abroad.

Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced the news of this subpoena vote and an expected October 23 hearing to reporters Thursday morning.

“The committee today will be noticing a mark-up on Tuesday to issue a subpoena to Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Friday,” Sen. Cruz said.

The committee’s reasoning, Cruz explained, is to have Dorsey “come before this committee and the American people and explain why Twitter is abusing their corporate power to silence the press and to cover up allegations of corruption.”

“And let me be clear, I don’t know if these New York Post stories are true or not,” Cruz added after. “Those are questions Vice President Biden should answer. But Twitter and Facebook and Big Tech billionaires don’t get to censor political speech and actively interfere in the election. That’s what they’re doing right now.”

Following the uproar against Twitter’s action, Jack Dorsey said late Wednesday that he regretted how Twitter handled the situation.

“Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great,” the social media executive wrote. “And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable.”

According to Twitter, the platform red-flagged the articles for supposedly violating its policy about posting content and information that doesn’t belong to the publisher. The Post obtained a hard drive with the emails on them, coming from a laptop brought to a repair shop in Delaware, Biden’s home state. Biden’s presidential campaign has denied the allegations made by the Post.

Whenever users wanted to share one of the Post‘s articles, they’d be met with a pop-up, saying, “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful.” Anybody who wanted to open or retweet the hyperlink already shared on the platform were also told by Twitter before clicking that the “link may be unsafe.”

At the time of this announcement, Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg were already planning to testify on October 28 before the Senate Commerce Committee regarding content published on their platform by users.

RELATED: Senate Authorizes Subpoenas for Big Tech CEOs

The Senate is already jam-packed with important votes and hearings, such as the aforementioned Commerce Committee hearing and the vote to confirm nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. With 19 days until Election Day, this newest event on the calendar carries the potential shake up the conversation about censorship, misinformation, and social media, especially when reporting the election.

Only one thing is for sure, Dorsey and Zuckerberg better book hotel rooms for multiple nights in Washington, DC.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

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After 3 days, 12 jurors for Trump alleged hush money trial have been chosen

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What was anticipated to take up to two weeks has concluded in only three days. 12 jurors have been chosen for the trial against former President Donald Trump, who has been charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges surround alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts, stating the trial is “political persecution.” The former president is expected to testify during his trial, and Fox News has published a list with what is known of the individuals:

Juror #1 and the foreperson: lives in New York City but is originally from Ireland. He has no children and enjoys doing anything outdoorsy. He gets his news from the New York Times, Daily Mail, Fox News and MSNBC.

When asked by Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche if he was aware Trump is charged in other cases and jurisdictions, and how that affects him, the man said, “I don’t have an opinion.”

Juror #2 Is a man who said he follows Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen on “X,” formerly known as Twitter, as well as other “right wing” accounts, including former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.

The reason, he said, he follows those figures was so he could be plugged in to “anything that might move the markets I might need to know about.”

When asked if he would unfollow Cohen, as he may be a witness in the trial, the man said: “absolutely.”

The man also said he has “not seen any evidence” relating to the case.

“I will try to keep an open mind,” he said.

Responding to questions from Trump lawyer Susan Necheles about his feelings about the former president, the man said that Trump has done some good for the country.

“It’s ambivalent,” he said. “It goes both ways.”

The first person who was labeled juror #2 was excused Thursday morning after saying she could not be a fair juror.

Juror #3 is a young to middle-aged Asian man who lives in Manhattan. The man said he grew up in Oregon and has been an attorney for five years practicing corporate law. The man said he enjoys hiking and running, and gets his news from The New York Times and Google.

Juror #4 is originally from California, but has lived in New York City for 15 years. The man said he has been a security engineer for 25 years and holds a high school diploma, with some college education.

The man is married with three children. His wife is a teacher.

During his spare time, he enjoys being with his children, woodworking, and metal working.

The man said he has served on a jury before — on both a grand jury and a jury in a criminal trial.

The man said he gets his news from “a smattering” of news sources. As for social media, he said he doesn’t use it.

The man said he has a relative who works in finance and brothers-in-law that work as lawyers.

The man said he has no feelings about how Trump is being treated in this case.

The person who was first labeled as Juror #4 was excused Thursday morning after it was revealed that he had been previously arrested in Westchester, N.Y., for tearing down right-wing political advertisements.

Juror #5 is young and a New York native who has been a teacher of English Language Arts for eight years.

The woman was previously a caseworker at a juvenile detention center. She said she has a masters’ degree in education.

“I’m creative at heart,” she said, adding that she enjoys photography.

The woman said that she is not married and does not have children. Her mother was an administrative aide for a police department, and her godfather was a homicide detective.

The woman said she gets her news from Google and TikTok.

She was asked if Trump chose not to testify, whether she would hold that against him.

“I won’t hold that against him,” she said.

She explained that she has friends who have strong opinions on the former president but said she is not a political person and tries to avoid political conversations.

She did say, however, that she appreciates Trump’s candor.

“President Trump speaks his mind, and I’d rather that than someone who’s in office who you don’t know what they’re thinking,” she said.

When jurors were asked if they were aware Trump was charged in other cases than Bragg’s, most jurors were. However, juror #5 raised her hand to indicate that she was learning of additional charges for the first time.

Juror #6 is a young woman who lives in Manhattan. She described herself as a New Yorker. The woman is a software engineer and said she likes to dance.

Juror #7 is originally from North Carolina and works as an attorney and civil litigator.

The man said he is married with two children, and his wife works in risk management for a bank. He said he enjoys spending time outdoors and with his family.

The man said he gets his news from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post and the Washington Post.

When asked if his career as a lawyer would impact his ability to serve fair and impartially, or whether his opinions would get in his way, the man said that he does have “political views as to the Trump presidency” and said there were likely Trump administration policies he disagreed with.

“I don’t know the man and I don’t have any opinions about him personally,” he said.

As for his career as a lawyer, he said he does not have any opinions about Trump’s character.

“I certainly follow the news,” he said. “I’m aware there are other lawsuits out there. But I’m not sure that I know anyone’s character.”

Juror #8 has been selected. Information on this juror is not yet available.

Juror #9 is a woman who lives in Manhattan. She is originally from New Jersey and works as a speech therapist.

The woman is not married and does not have children. She said she likes to spend time with friends, go to restaurants, and go on walks.

The woman said she has never served on a jury before, and does not watch the news or follow current events too closely. The woman said she did, though, have email subscriptions to CNN and The New York Times. She said she follows social media accounts, listens to podcasts, and enjoys reality television.

The woman said she does not listen to talk radio.

The woman said she can be fair and impartial. She said she does have opinions about Trump, but said she believes she can put them aside and be fair and impartial.

Juror #10 is a man who lives in Manhattan. He was born and raised in Ohio and works in commerce for a large company. The man has a college degree.

The man said he is not married and has no children, but lives with another adult who works in accounting.

The man said he enjoys being outdoors and loves animals.

The man said he does not really follow the news, but listens to podcasts on behavioral psychology.

The man said he has no strong opinions on how Trump is treated in this case.

Juror #11 has been selected. Information on this juror was not immediately available.

Juror #12 has been selected. Information on this juror was not immediately available.

 

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