Critics are lambasting Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett (V.I.) after she threatened to jail independent journalist Matt Taibbi following his “Twitter Files” testimony before the House last month.
“Sure is getting fashy around here,” fellow Twitter Files journalist Michael Shellenberger, who testified alongside Taibbi at the hearing, tweeted, indicating the Democrat’s threat smacked of fascism.
Sure is getting fashy around herehttps://t.co/c8nIT47ROm pic.twitter.com/xnzTZk52ss
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 20, 2023
Shellenberger later added, “It is an honor to be invited to be an expert witness. Not only are we unpaid, we pay our own travel. What @StaceyPlaskett has done is a disgrace. Why would anyone choose to testify if they’re going to threatened with prison? Talk about a grotesque attack on norms. For shame.”
It is an honor to be invited to be an expert witness. Not only are we unpaid, we pay our own travel. What @StaceyPlaskett has done is a disgrace. Why would anyone choose to testify if they’re going to threatened with prison? Talk about a grotesque attack on norms. For shame.
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 20, 2023
Plaskett, who serves as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, has written a letter to Taibbi about a comment he made to lawmakers. Plaskett alleged that the statement contained an error that MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan previously promoted in a heated interview exchange related to the name of federal agencies identified in the Twitter Files, Fox News reported.
Other social media users also piled on the House Democrat for the overt threat.
“Now Rep. @StaceyPlaskett is trying to get @mtaibbi, a journalist, jailed for five years for exposing Clint Watts’ US govt-funded Hamilton 68 as a fraudulent lie machine that was promoted by corporate media outlets and congressional Dems like herself,” The Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal wrote on Twitter.
“Extraordinarily unbefitting a member of Congress, if this letter is real, and worthy of public rebuke by her colleagues as soon as possible,” Washington Examiner executive editor Seth Mandel said.
Extraordinarily unbefitting a member of Congress, if this letter is real, and worthy of public rebuke by her colleagues as soon as possible https://t.co/ei34q59eSC
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) April 20, 2023
“Can someone who is not blocked by Mehdi ask him how he feels about his monologue being used to threaten a journalist with prison? A typo in a Tweet thread is not lying before Congress,” NewsNation reporter Zaid Jilani wrote, ripping the MSNBC host.
“Democrat House Reps are now threatening journalists with prison. Are the norms restored to everyone’s satisfaction now?” The Spectator contributing editor Stephen L. Miller posited.
“The party of Norms threatens to imprison a journalist for confusing nearly identical acronyms,” Washington Free Beacon correspondent Aaron Sibarium similarly expressed.
“Reckless behavior by @StaceyPlaskett. Disagree with Taibbi all you want, but there’s no better way to confirm the point of his reporting than to threaten him with imprisonment for telling Congress about his reporting,” wrote Substack writer Matt Stoller.
“Stacey Plaskett trying to disprove the notion that the federal government is being weaponized against dissenters by threatening Matt Taibbi with 5 years jail time,” Reason Magazine senior editor Robby Soave explained.
“Behold @mehdirhasan ‘s most notable journalistic accomplishment: via his own mistake, getting a member of Congress to threaten an actual journalist with imprisonment,” Useful Idiots podcast co-host Aaron Maté added.
