Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Twitter, met on Thursday night at the US Capitol in Washington with Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic Party, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy declined to speak after their visit to Musk’s office, other than to add, “He came for my birthday.” On Thursday, the Republican from California turned 58.
Musk said on Twitter that he had met with McCarthy and Jeffries “to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both sides” after the meeting.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Jeffries met with McCarthy in part to receive a law enforcement briefing on Capitol Hill preparations in case there are protests following the anticipated release of video from Tyre Nichols’ arrest, which is expected to take place on Friday. Tyre Nichols passed away earlier this month after being stopped for a traffic violation.
Later, Musk showed in for a separate meeting with McCarthy; during this time, Jeffries had a brief encounter with the wealthy businessman. Twitter was mentioned, but the insider had no further information.
McCarthy stayed with Musk until the speaker departed for floor votes and Jeffries left shortly after, the person claimed.
The House Oversight Committee is organizing a hearing on Twitter and how it handled a story concerning Hunter Biden’s laptop next month, which is why Musk and congressional leaders are meeting at this time.
Members of the House GOP conference have promised strict control of social media and huge internet companies, which they have accused of censoring conservative content.
According to many people with knowledge of the situation, the committee invited three former Twitter employees to testify and is currently in talks with the group about appearing before the committee. The sources claimed that the committee may set the hearing for February 8 as a likely target date.
Multiple “Twitter Files” stories, corporate emails that were distributed to journalists chosen by Musk and his staff at Twitter, have focused on the way in which the Hunter Biden laptop story was handled by the company.
The Twitter Files revealed that the company’s moderation staff agonized about handling the first reports on the incident. Despite the fact that the first news reports were suppressed or censored, the organization immediately changed its mind and let them be shared and discussed on the platform.
In the IT business and because of his political stances, Musk has established a reputation for being a divisive character. In recent months, he has frequently offered public commentary on US policy and the political scene.
In the past, Musk has voted for Democrats and Republicans, but more lately, he has supported conservatives and claims to identify as a Republican.
After Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in January and elected McCarthy as a speaker, there has been a political power shift in Washington.
