Democrats repeatedly attempted to bully independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger into giving up their #TwitterFiles sources — and the answer, every time, was a resounding and emphatic &#8220;NO.&#8221;
<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/twitter-files-journalist-matt-taibbi-confirms-platforms-supreme-court-had-ben-shapiro-in-its-sights/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taibbi</a> and Shellenberger appeared before Congress for a Thursday morning hearing with the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government — and in addition to badgering them for information on their sources, the <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/09/democrats-attack-so-called-in-twitter-files-hearing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Democrats on the committee</a> verbally attacked them, calling them Twitter owner Elon Musk&#8217;s &#8220;personal scribes.&#8221;
The committee&#8217;s ranking member, Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-USVI), began the attack in her opening statement, referring to Taibbi and Shellenberger as &#8220;so-called journalists&#8221; before they&#8217;d even been called on to answer the first question.
Plaskett then claimed that &#8220;all the so-called ‘Twitter Files’ really showed was a discussion on content moderation,&#8221; arguing that the two journalists were only there because their work on the Twitter Files was seen as politically advantageous to Republicans.
&#8220;Ranking Member Plaskett, I’m not a so-called journalist,&#8221; Taibbi objected, adding, &#8220;I’ve won the National Magazine Award, the I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and I’ve written 10 books, including four New York Times bestsellers.&#8221;
Plaskett then repeatedly attempted to get the pair to reveal their sources.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: Democrats Attempt to Force Taibbi to name his sources in open hearing. He REFUSES <a href="https://t.co/pHLnT2UxYY">pic.twitter.com/pHLnT2UxYY</a>
&mdash; Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1633882519400775680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2023</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Who was the individual that gave you permission to access the emails?&#8221; Plaskett asked.
&#8220;The attribution for my story is &#8216;sources at Twitter&#8217; and that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m going to refer to,&#8221; Taibbi replied.
&#8220;Okay, did Mr. Musk contact you?&#8221; Plaskett tried a different tack.
&#8220;Again, the attribution for my story is &#8216;sources at Twitter,'&#8221; Taibbi repeated.
Plaskett pivoted to Shellenberger with the same question: &#8220;Did Mr. Musk contact you?&#8221;
Shellenberger said no, that he had been brought in to help with the story by his friend and fellow Twitter Files journalist Bari Weiss.
&#8220;Mr. Taibbi, have you had conversations with Elon Musk?&#8221; Plaskett tried again, and when Taibbi conceded that he had, she pressed harder: &#8220;Did Mr. Musk place any conditions on the use of the emails —&#8221;
At that point, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan interrupted, asking Plaskett directly whether she was attempting to get a journalist to reveal a source.
&#8220;No, I&#8217;m not,&#8221; she insisted, but Jordan shot back, &#8220;Well, it sure sounds like it.&#8221;
Later in the hearing, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) tried a different approach to get to the source information.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Rep. Garcia: &quot;So you&#39;re not gonna tell us Musk first approached you?&quot;
Matt Taibbi: &quot;You&#39;re asking a journalist to reveal his sources.&quot;
Garcia: &quot;So you consider Musk to be the direct source of all this?&quot;
Matt Taibbi: &quot;Now you&#39;re trying to get me to say he&#39;s the source.&quot;… <a href="https://t.co/JLjm6MIQ4F">pic.twitter.com/JLjm6MIQ4F</a>
&mdash; Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealMacReport/status/1633877784748752897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2023</a></blockquote>
Garcia began by asking when Musk had approached Taibbi about writing the Twitter Files — and he refused to answer, saying it went to the issue of sourcing and that he was not going to divulge that information.
&#8220;When was the first time that Mr. Musk approached you about writing the Twitter Files?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;I just need a date, Sir.&#8221;
&#8220;Again, Congresswoman, that would be — but I can&#8217;t give it to you, unfortunately, because this is a question of sourcing, and I don&#8217;t give up — I&#8217;m a journalist, I don&#8217;t reveal my sources,&#8221; he replied.
Garcia insisted that it was not a question of sourcing so much as timing — but Taibbi remained firm in his position and did not answer. She then pivoted to ask him about Musk directly, prompting Jordan to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/3892219-weaponization-subcommittee-members-spar-over-twitter-files/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interrupt again</a> and chastise her for repeated attempts to force him to reveal his source.
&#8220;What he has said is he is not going to reveal his source, and the fact that the Democrats are pressuring him to do so is such a violation of the First Amendment,&#8221; Jordan said.
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Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/09/democrats-attack-so-called-in-twitter-files-hearing/">used</a> her time to attempt to first discredit Taibbi himself — claiming that simply agreeing to be a witness before a Republican-led committee undermined his objectivity as a journalist — and then to discredit the story by suggesting the sources had &#8220;motives.&#8221;
&#8220;Every reported story that I’ve ever done across three decades involves sources who have motives,&#8221; Taibbi shot back.
Wasserman Schultz responded by asserting that Taibbi had leveraged his work on the Twitter Files for personal profit.
His reply: &#8220;I think it’s probably a wash, honestly.&#8221;

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WATCH: House Dems Try To Bully Twitter Files Journos Into Revealing Sources, Fail Miserably