Journalist Matt Taibbi fact-checked Democratic Delegate Stacey Plaskett (USVI) on Sunday after she claimed she did not ask the famous “Twitter Files” journalist to disclose his sources.
What is the background?
After testifying before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government last Thursday, Taibbi rebuked Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) for appearing to accuse him of propagating “extreme MAGA Republican lies, misinformation, and outright conspiracy theories.”
Taibbi responded, “Congresswoman, how does badgering a non-MAGA, non-Republican journalist to give up a source constitute fighting ‘Extreme MAGA Republican lies’?”
He was referring to the tense exchange between himself and Garcia at the committee hearing in which the congresswoman pressed him to expose the source of his access to internal Twitter information, which became the focus of his famous “Twitter Files” investigations. At the subcommittee hearing, Garcia denied that she was pressuring Taibbi to expose his sources.
What did Plaskett say?
Plaskett, the ranking member of the subcommittee, defended her Democratic colleague, claiming there was no pressure put on Taibbi to reveal his sources.
“No one is interested in revealing ‘journalists” sources,” she claimed. “What we ALL should be interested in is what discussion, promises and/or deals Elon Musk has with Taibbi[,] Shellenberger[,] @HouseGOP[,] and definitely Jim Jordan @HouseJudiciary.”
Taibbi responded on Sunday by pointing out that Plaskett is not being honest, using her own words to prove his point.
“Your direct quote was, ‘Who gave you access to these emails?'” Taibbi responded.
Video of the subcommittee hearing shows that Taibbi is correct.
At one point during the hearing, Plaskett asked him, “Who gave you access to these emails? Who is the individual that gave you permission to access the emails?”
Tiabbi responded that he attributed his information to “sources at Twitter” and explained that he would not say anything further about the sources. Still, Plaskett followed up and asked if Elon Musk is his source.
But Taibbi refused to entertain the question, instead maintaining his journalistic integrity and thus the secrecy of his sources.
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