WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL) released documents from its lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning alleged federal records concealment related to government-sponsored censorship before the 2022 midterm elections.
Following the 2022 Midterm Election, Matt Taibbi disclosed in “The Twitter Files, Part Six: Twitter, the FBI Subsidiary” that the FBI’s National Election Command Post (NECP) sent a list of accounts, including Right Side Broadcasting Network's account, to the FBI San Francisco field office for further action.
AFL's investigation indicates that NECP received lists of "Multiple Twitter accounts posting misinformation" from various locations, including the FBI New York field office. The social media monitoring was extensive enough that posts were consolidated into two word documents due to volume.
According to an Inspector General’s report, NECP operated from FBI headquarters with DOJ attorneys vetting information shared with various FBI field offices. This included information on foreign influence, cyber intrusions, and criminal election law violations. It appears DOJ attorneys and possibly non-DOJ agencies vetted tips before tasking San Francisco for additional action.
NECP flagged domestic accounts like "@RSBNetwork" for potential criminal election law violations rather than foreign influence or cyber intrusions. They requested preservation letters from the San Francisco field office to secure subscriber and content information pending legal processes.
The Inspector General’s report details legal procedures available to the FBI for compelling third parties to produce evidence. This includes grand jury subpoenas for subscriber information or court orders under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) for historical data as part of ongoing investigations under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
AFL has criticized what it sees as selective prosecution by the Biden-Harris Administration against American citizens like Douglass Mackey for social media activities. AFL argues this reflects a trend where authorities treat misinformation as a law enforcement issue, potentially leading to arrests over social media comments.
Gene Hamilton, Executive Director of America First Legal, stated: “The left’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies towards hyperventilating about anything related to ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ or ‘malinformation,’ are not just isolated to their leaders in the media or in leftist organizations. Rather, this absurd fixation has infected our law enforcement agencies who apparently believe that they have nothing better to do than monitor and censor speech online–all while actual crime goes unaddressed and unabated in our major cities. This is yet more evidence that there is systemic rot within the Department of Justice and it needs to be addressed,” said Gene Hamilton.