President Donald Trump, who is being treated for the CCP virus at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, speaks from his hospital room, on Oct. 3, 2020. (The White House/Handout via Reuters)
Former top-FBI lawyer James Baker raised a query on an October 2020 tweet from then-President Donald Trump, seeking to know why it wasn’t misinformation, according to the latest installment of the Elon Musk-endorsed “Twitter Files.”
Baker, who at the time was serving as Twitter’s deputy general counsel, targeted a tweet Trump wrote prior to his release from Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, after receiving treatment for COVID-19.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.,” Trump wrote on Oct. 5, 2020. “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
An email exchange shared on Dec. 26 by journalist David Zweig revealed that, following that tweet, Baker reached out to Yoel Roth, Twitter’s then-head of Trust and Safety, to inquire as to why the tweet was not a violation of the platform’s COVID-19 policy.
In his response, Roth noted that other employees had already started a discussion on the topic and explained that the tweet posed no violation of Twitter’s policies.
“In short, this tweet is a broad optimistic statement,” Roth wrote. “It doesn’t incite people to do something harmful, nor does it recommend against taking precautions or following mask directives (or other guidelines). It doesn’t fall within the published scope of our policies. Curious whether you have a different read on it though.”
James Baker, a former FBI general counsel, was removed as Twitter's deputy general counsel on Dec. 6, 2022. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)
Baker Taking Heat
Baker was ousted from Twitter on Dec. 6 by the company’s new CEO, billionaire Elon Musk, after it was discovered that he had “vetted” the first chapter of the Twitter Files without Musk’s knowledge.
As additional disclosures from Twitter’s internal documents have been released, Baker’s advisory role in the platform’s ultimate decision to censor the New York Post’s report on Hunter Biden’s business dealings has come under scrutiny from not only the general public but also members of Congress.
In a letter (pdf) dated the same day as Baker’s firing from Twitter, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) requested that Baker begin making arrangements to appear before the House Oversight Committee, stating that his testimony would provide “critical context regarding the Twitter censorship team’s decision to prohibit users from sharing information about a presidential candidate.”
Further, according to Mike Davis, founder and president of advocacy organization Article III Project, Baker may face ethics charges for reviewing and potentially deleting information from the Twitter Files that could be damaging to him personally, which would mean he was working against his client.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Baker for comment.
Shaping the Narrative
As Monday’s chapter of the Twitter Files revealed, Trump was not alone in having his COVID-related tweets scrutinized by the platform.
For instance, former Harvard School of Medicine professor Martin Kulldorff had one of his tweets targeted by a moderator who said the post shared “false information” about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
In the flagged post, Kulldorff asserted: “Thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should. COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people, and their care-takers. Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.”
In addition to labeling Kulldorff’s post as “misleading,” Twitter also turned off users’ ability to like or reply to the tweet.
“But Kulldorff’s statement was an expert’s opinion—one which also happened to be in line with vaccine policies in numerous other countries,” Zweig noted Monday.
Following those revelations, Kulldorff told The Epoch Times that he was “not surprised” his posts had been targeted by Twitter and contended that such censorship should not happen.
“There should be an open discussion,” Kulldorff said. “You can’t expect people to trust public health and trust the scientific community if you don’t have that open communication and open debate.”
In another case, Dr. Andrew Bostom, a physician in Rhode Island, was suspended for four months following five supposed violations of the COVID-19 policy, but according to Twitter’s logs, only one of the challenged tweets posed a violation—one that cited legitimate data but contradicted the prevailing narrative.
“U.S. & local Rhode Island data: Influenza is more lethal than covid-19 in children, while covid-19 vaccination causes >>> serious morbidity than influenza vaccination in children,” Bostom wrote in that post.
Bostom’s account was only restored after his attorney contacted Twitter to request an audit.
A New Direction
Last month, following Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the platform stopped enforcing its COVID-19 policy. Notification of the change came in the form of an update to a COVID-19 Misinformation Policy report that Twitter first published on July 28.
According to the report, between January 2020 and September 2022, 11.72 million accounts were challenged under the COVID-19 policy, resulting in 11,230 account suspensions and the removal of 97,674 posts.
Since Musk took control of the social media giant, many previously suspended accounts, including the 45th president’s, have been restored.
Additionally, through the Twitter Files, a plethora of information has been released detailing the platform’s struggles to control speech within increasingly broad parameters.
According to Musk, additional disclosures regarding Twitter’s policing of COVID-related content will be released next week.
Samantha Flom is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering U.S. politics and news. A graduate of Syracuse University, she has a background in journalism and nonprofit communications.
Contact her at [email protected].
