Rep. Jim Jordan, a member of the House Judiciary Committee (R-OH), subpoenaed Lina Khan, chair of Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Wednesday to get documents and communications relating to FTC’s investigation into Twitter.
Jordan claimed in a cover letter that was included with the subpoena, that the FTC had overstepped its boundaries by asking Twitter for “inappropriate” and “burdensome” information after Elon Musk bought the company.
Jordan stated that the subpoena was required for the committee’s oversight of the FTC actions because Khan had not responded to his previous requests for documents or communications.
Jordan, who is also chair of the Select Subcommittee on the Warization of the Federal Government of the Judiciary Committee, published the cover letter for the subpoena.
After Sen. Ted Cruz (R.TX), Jordan, and the ranking senator of the Senate Commerce Committee had contacted Khan about a report Republicans published that revealed extensive demands made by the FTC to Twitter. The Republicans claimed it was a “harassment” campaign against Twitter and Musk.
The report stated that “the strong inference” drawn from the FTC’s broad demands was “that Twitter’s rediscovered focus upon free speech is being met by politically motivated attempts to thwart Elon Musk’s goals.”
According to the report, the FTC had packed over 350 demands into 12 letters within a 10-week period that began in October 2022 after Musk’s purchase.
According to the report, these are the demands:
Names of journalists who were granted access to the Twitter Files
All communications in email, Slack and other media “relating to Elon Musk”.
Ex-FBI general counsel Jim Baker was fired by Musk. Baker allegedly played a role in suppressing Hunter Biden’s laptop story in 2020. Matt Taibbi, Twitter Files journalist, said that Baker “vet[ed]” the first batch of “Twitter Files” without Musk’s knowledge.
There were 60 requests for information about Twitter Blue. One request was to find out when Musk “first thought of the idea”.
Information on whether Twitter “sold its office equipment”.
According to the report, the FTC had at least partially attributed its demands to previous legal settlements with Twitter dating back to 2011, when it first discovered that Twitter had misled its users about its privacy policies. Twitter reached an agreement with the FTC in 2022 to resolve another privacy violation.
Musk purchased Twitter and made huge staff cuts. He also saw top security officials resign, likely adding to the already troubled relationship between the company and the FTC. Also, he initiated a chaotic rollout for Twitter Blue. This led to impersonations of well-known people and further concerns about the company.
Jordan stated in the cover letter to subpoena that “the FTC’s demands to Twitter were not restricted to the scope” legal settlements. He claimed that the FTC used the settlements as a justification for its demands to Twitter.
Breitbart News reviewed Khan’s subpoena and ordered Khan to produce all documents and communications requested by the Judiciary Committee before April 26.
