Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has called for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be fired over alleged false testimony surrounding Big Tech-government collusion.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Hawley accused Mayorkas of lying under oath about his department’s pressure on social media to censor speech.
The controversy arose after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued a letter admitting his company wrongly censored free speech after pressure from government officials, including the Biden White House.
“Zuckerberg finally admitted what everybody already knew: The Biden-Harris Administration coerced Big Tech to do its dirty work, censoring free speech about COVID and the 2020 election,” Hawley told the Examiner. “We knew Mayorkas was behind this — even if he denied it to Congress. Add perjury to the list of reasons he should be fired.”
During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing in November 2022, Hawley challenged Mayorkas on reports of Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) actions to induce censorship, including through its now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board (DGB).
“It is unequivocally false, senator,” Mayorkas asserted at the time.
Today Mark Zuckerberg admitted in writing that the Biden Admin pressured Facebook to censor Covid-19 content.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) August 27, 2024
Here is Mayorkas lying about it under oath in 2022. 100% absolutely committing perjury. When is Mayorkas going to prison? pic.twitter.com/J1AXl4VrEl
“You are not pressuring the Big Tech companies to take down accounts? You are not meeting with them to ask them to censor on your behalf?” Hawley pressed in response.
“That is correct. We are not,” Mayorkas replied emphatically. This, according to Hawley, appears to have been a lie.
The DHS‘s own quadrennial report, as stated by Hawley in the 2022 hearing, described “disinformation” as the “new focus” of the department, even though the DGB was disbanded.
DHS reportedly planned to target content related to COVID-19 vaccines, “racial justice” and the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. A judge had then recently found the DHS was coordinating censorship activities, Hawley stated (possibly referring to the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit), citing emails as evidence. Zuckerberg’s letter confirmed the Biden-Harris administration pushed Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads) to silence free speech about Covid-19.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
