{"id":1774998,"date":"2022-12-14T06:06:07","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T11:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1774998"},"modified":"2022-12-14T11:33:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T16:33:41","slug":"missouri-ag-issues-preservation-of-evidence-demand-for-feds-communications-with-twitter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/missouri-ag-issues-preservation-of-evidence-demand-for-feds-communications-with-twitter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri AG Issues Preservation of Evidence Demand for Feds\u2019 Communications With Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmissouri-ag-issues-preservation-of-evidence-demand-for-feds-communications-with-twitter-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1774998&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced he sent a legal notice to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-twitter\">Twitter<\/a> asking the platform to preserve evidence relating to communications between the company and the federal government relating to \u201cmisinformation\u201d or \u201ccontent moderation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the platform, Schmitt, a Republican, made reference to new owner Elon Musk\u2019s decision to release communications to journalist Matt Taibbi and others\u2014known as the \u201cTwitter Files\u201d\u2014that showed former FBI official and then-Twitter general counsel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-james-baker\">James Baker<\/a> communicated with other Twitter managers about the 2020 Hunter Biden laptop story. According to emails released by Taibbi, Baker had called for the laptop story to remain censored amid discussion about how to proceed with the story weeks ahead of the General Election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe sent a letter to Twitter,\u201d Schmitt, who was elected to Missouri\u2019s Senate seat last month,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Eric_Schmitt\/status\/1602428351687319552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1602428351687319552%7Ctwgr%5E4d765a38dc305b9838eb0ea34e1d95eb428ac907%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2022%2F12%2Fzeroing-missouri-ags-office-issues-preservation-evidence-feds-communications-twitter%2F\">wrote<\/a> on Monday evening, \u201casking the platform to look into whether any key documents were deleted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The letter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Eric_Schmitt\/status\/1602428351687319552\/photo\/1\">in part<\/a>, calls for Twitter to conduct a \u201cpreservation of evidence\u201d in connection to a lawsuit Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry had filed against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/missouri-ag-eric-schmitt-vows-to-make-depositions-in-big-tech-censorship-case-public_4876209.html\">federal government<\/a> earlier this year. Citing Musk\u2019s recent disclosures, Schmitt wrote that the firm needs to take immediate steps to prevent the destruction of evidence that may have occurred under Baker\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurther, we asked Twitter to reveal who from the federal government communicated with Twitter to censor speech. Based on our recent depositions, we believe the previous list we received pursuant to a third party subpoena was incomplete,\u201d the Republican attorney general wrote. \u201cLastly, we asked Twitter to provide responsive documents pursuant to our original third party subpoena.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Taibbi\u2019s initial reporting, it was later revealed that Baker was vetting documents and messages that were being sent to him and other journalists under Musk\u2019s direction. Musk <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/elon-musk-fires-twitters-general-counsel-and-ex-fbi-official-james-baker_4907660.html\">wrote<\/a> last week that Baker had departed the company, although it\u2019s not clear why he was still working there after Musk took it over in October.<\/p>\n<p>Taibbi wrote that Baker allegedly was \u201cvetting the first batch of \u2018Twitter Files\u2019 \u2013 without knowledge of new management\u201d under Musk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe news that Baker was reviewing the \u2018Twitter files\u2019 surprised everyone involved, to say the least. New Twitter chief Elon Musk acted quickly to \u2018exit\u2019 Baker Tuesday,\u201d Taibbi also wrote on Dec. 6. \u201cReporters resumed searches through Twitter Files material\u2014a lot of it\u2014today. The next installment of \u2018The Twitter Files\u2019 will appear\u201d in the near future, he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Schmitt argued that if Baker or other Twitter staff are destroying or are in the process of destroying documents relevant to his lawsuit, \u201csuch actions would impose unfair prejudice on us and our clients.\u201d Because of the suit, Twitter should \u201ctake immediate steps to prevent such spoliation activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times has contacted an email associated with Baker for comment. Since he departed Twitter, Baker has not publicly issued any comments.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4787029\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/10\/10\/ag-schmitt-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4787029\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ag-schmitt-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"   style=\"display:none\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4787029\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ag-schmitt-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, left, talks to reporters with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Washington in an April 26, 2022, file image. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Before serving as Twitter\u2019s general counsel starting in 2020, Baker had a role as the FBI\u2019s general counsel for several years. Notably, in special counsel John Durham\u2019s case against former Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann, Durham had alleged Sussmann had provided information about the Trump Organization to Baker during the 2016 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The files showed that Baker has involved in the decision-making process when Twitter moved to block sharing or direct messaging of the New York Post\u2019s October 2020 story detailing Hunter Biden\u2019s business deals. The Post was also locked out of its account for several weeks after the article was posted online.<\/p>\n<p>Baker, according to messages posted by Taibbi, had written around that time that he supports the \u201cconclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was later determined that details of the story that were sourced from the laptop were authentic. At the time, a Delaware computer repair shop owner confirmed that Hunter Biden left the laptop at his business and never returned for it, which has never been disputed by the younger Biden.<\/p>\n<p>Several news outlets that initially suggested the NY Post story was part of a Russian disinformation plot later interviewed forensic experts who said the laptop was authentic. However, those stories were published months or even years after it was revealed in the fall of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to questions about Baker\u2019s exit last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration was not involved and was not in communication with him or anyone else at Twitter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-jack-phillips\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/06\/13\/Jack-Phillips.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Phillips\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"names\">\n<p>Breaking News Reporter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jack Phillips is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in New York. He covers breaking news.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced he sent a legal notice to Twitter asking the platform to preserve evidence relating to communications between the company and the federal government relating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1773855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[8582,5458,8583,4368,4913,6617,4065,8584,3819,4253],"class_list":["post-1774998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-preservation","tag-bongino","tag-communications","tag-demand","tag-evidence","tag-feds","tag-issues","tag-missouri","tag-report","tag-twitter"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1774998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1773855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}