The first House hearing dealing with the much-discussed Twitter Files happened on Thursday, and there was no shortage of viral moments.
As RedState reported, Matt Taibbi was at the center of many of them, having been the original journalist to break the story. Democrats tried their best to get him to crack, but he had the right answer to embarrass them each and every exchange.
In one especially tense instance, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) tried to get Taibbi to reveal his sources, something that is unthinkable for any journalist. When Taibbi pushed back, chaos broke out in the chamber as members began to yell over each other.
GARCIA: When was the first time that Mr. Musk approached you about writing the Twitter Files
TAIBBI: Again, congresswoman that would (crosstalk)
GARCIA: I just need a date sir
TAIBBI: But I can’t give it to you, unfortunately because this is a questioning of sourcing and I don’t give up (crosstalk)
GARCIA: It’s not a question of source, it’s a question of chronology
I’ll get to the meltdown at the end of the clip in a moment, but to be clear, Garcia is absolutely trying to get Taibbi to out his sources. She wanted him to tell her when Musk first contacted him. Based on that date, the committee (and anyone else watching) would be able to ascertain if the now-Twitter owner was the initial contact for Taibbi.
Why does that matter? It doesn’t matter at all, but when your party is built around defending the weaponization of the government for political gain, you have to try to muddy the waters. The Twitter Files are backed by hard evidence, including reams of documentation. It doesn’t matter if they were written on stone tablets and descended from Heaven, the verified content within them is what is relevant.
Garcia wanted Taibbi to say “well, Musk set this all up” because she and her colleagues believe they can then discredit the work that has been done. When Taibbi refused, Democrats started shouting about how he had supposedly confirmed Musk was the source.
Astonishingly, it wasn’t just some random member, either. Rather, it was the Democrat Ranking Member, Stacey Plaskett (the delegate from the Virgin Islands), who broke the rules to start screaming that Taibbi had confirmed his source when he clearly didn’t. Garcia kept speaking as well. Eventually, Rep. Jim Jordan had to step in to call for order, though the Democrats never truly relented.
If Republicans had caused such a scene, it would have led the evening news. There would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth about decorum and House rules. Regardless, what it shows is a party that still hasn’t come to grips with the fact that they no longer rule the roost. They’ll get the picture soon enough, though.