Stefanik says censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story was 'election meddling by FBI on behalf of Democrats'

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Stefanik blasts President Biden's slow response to the Chinese surveillance flight: he 'abysmally failed'

House Republican Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik torched President Biden's slow response to the Chinese spy balloon and previewed the first hearing by the new weaponization subcommittee.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik said Twitter’s censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020 is "the definition of election meddling by the FBI on behalf of Democrats," paid by taxpayers.

Stefanik, R-N.Y., during the first House Subcommittee on Weaponization hearing Thursday, pointed to the "Twitter Files" – internal records released late last year from the social media giant that exposed how former management took active measures to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop stories and other information before the 2020 presidential election.

"The Twitter files are just the tip of the iceberg because there’s so much more," Stefanik said, adding that there was "a corrupt revolving door at the highest levels between the FBI and Twitter." 

Stefanik pointed to ex-Twitter general counsel Jim Baker – the former general counsel at the FBI, who was part of the bureau’s debunked Trump-Russia investigation in 2016 – and ex-FBI Director James Comey’s former deputy chief of staff, who served as the director of strategy at Twitter.

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Stefanik went on to cite polling that suggested that Americans "would have changed their vote" in the 2020 election if they were made aware of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

"This is the definition of election meddling, and it’s the definition of election meddling by the FBI on behalf of Democrats, paid for by the U.S. taxpayers," she said Thursday.

Rep. Elise Stefanik pointed to emails revealing that the FBI had paid Twitter $3.5 million since 2019.

Stefanik pointed to emails revealing that the FBI had paid Twitter $3.5 million since 2019.

"It’s collusion. It’s corruption. And it is unconstitutional," she said.

FBI DECLINES TO LIST OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES IT PAID, SAYS $3.5 MIL TWITTER PAYMENT WAS 'REIMBURSEMENT'

Upon revelations of the FBI’s $3.5 million payment to Twitter, the bureau told Fox News that the payment was a "reimbursement" for the "reasonable costs and expenses associated with their response to a legal process… For complying with legal requests, and a standard procedure."

The FBI officials also said Twitter isn't the only social media company that is being paid by the federal agency, telling Fox News, "We don’t just reimburse Twitter."

President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

When asked by Fox News what other companies have been reimbursed by the FBI as details about the payments, the FBI officials declined to elaborate.

"While we are not able to speak to specific payments, the government is required to provide reimbursement for reasonable expenses directly related to searching for, assembling, reproducing, or otherwise providing the information responsive to the legal process. This requirement is set by federal law and the courts are the final arbiters of what is reasonable compensation," the FBI officials said.

RATCLIFFE: HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP WAS A PARTISAN DOMESTIC 'DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN'

Meanwhile, Stefanik on Thursday called the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and the targeting of parents at school board meetings the "real definition of weaponization of the government against the American people." 

Upon revelations of the FBI’s $3.5 million payment to Twitter, the bureau told Fox News that the payment was a "reimbursement" for the "reasonable costs and expenses associated with their response to a legal process… For complying with legal requests, and a standard procedure." (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

"It goes back to the opening of Crossfire Hurricane," she said, referring to the FBI's original Trump-Russia investigation. "It goes back the faulty FISA application. It goes back to what we heard on that first panel from Sens. Grassley and Johnson." 

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She added: "This corruption needs to be rooted out and it's not just about protecting the U.S. Constitution. It is most importantly about protecting the American people from the weaponization of the federal government against them."