“How much censorship took place under her office,” asked Trump attorney Christina Bobb.
QUICK FACTS:
- Calls for investigations into Arizona Democrat governor-elect Katie Hobbs’ office have grown following a released email suggesting Twitter accounts involving “election-related misinformation” were flagged by the Hobbs team and removed by Twitter.
- The email surfaced amidst a lawsuit by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry against the Biden administration and its collaboration with Big Tech organizations to censor opinions in a violation of the First Amendment.
- Dated January 7, 2021, the email describes “specific concerns” from Hobbs’ office, one being what her office characterized as “false” assertions “that the Voter Registration System is owned and therefore operated by foreign actors.”
- “This is an attempt to further undermine confidence in the election institution in Arizona,” the office argued, implying that claims that foreign actors had meddled in Arizona’s voter registration system could weaken the public’s trust in the state’s election process.
- The Center for Internet Security apparently received the email from Hobbs’ office and in turn sent it to Twitter. Twitter reportedly replied to Hobbs’ office and copied the Department of Homeland Security, writing, “Both Tweets have been removed from the service.”
- Assistant Arizona Secretary of State Allie Bones said removing false information is not silencing free speech, responding to criticism that the email suggests Katie Hobbs may have participated in the silencing of political adversaries.
- Specifics of the email remain unclear as much of the information was blacked out.
REPUBLICANS RESPOND TO ALLEGED COLLUSION:
- The campaign account for Arizona’s Kari Lake asked regarding Hobbs’ alleged move to censor Twitter activity, “How deep does her corruption go?”
- Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted in response to Hobbs’ office’s apparent Twitter censoring, “This is communism and Hobbs can not be governor. I’m calling for a Federal investigation.”
- The Republican Party of Arizona said, “At a minimum, Arizonans deserve to know what accounts/tweets were censored. The First Amendment was created to protect citizens against the government, Not the other way around.”
- Arizona Attorney General nominee Abe Hamadeh said the email “needs to be fully investigated, as “the Secretary of State was working with the federal government and Big Tech to silence free speech and political dissent in an election that she was on the ticket for.”
BACKGROUND:
- American Faith reported that Kari Lake will not concede to Katie Hobbs, stating she is “firmly in this fight” with the people of Arizona.
- Lake believes she will be “victorious” in her lawsuit against Maricopa County, which experienced an array of tabulator malfunctions on Election Day, adding that the fight is “going to be real ugly.”
