October 3, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris has written to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, urging him to ban the President of the United States from the social media platform over his tweets about the anonymous accuser who sparked Democrats’ latest impeachment push.
“Twitter’s user agreement specifically states that users ‘may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so,’” with harassment including efforts to “silence someone else’s voice,” Harris’ October 1 letter read. She claimed Donald Trump violated those terms with a series of tweets pertaining to the controversy over his request that the Ukrainian government investigate Vice President Joe Biden pressuring the country to fire a prosecutor investigating his son’s company:
Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn’t a Whistleblower at all. In addition, all second hand information that proved to be so inaccurate that there may not have even been somebody else, a leaker or spy, feeding it to him or her? A partisan operative?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2019
Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called “Whistleblower,” represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 29, 2019
….In addition, I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the “Whistleblower.” Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 29, 2019
Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
….If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” Pastor Robert Jeffress, @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
Trump’s complaints stem from reports that the as-yet-unidentified “whistleblower” who first made the allegations coordinated with the office of Democrat House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff before submitting the complaint, despite Schiff having denied advance knowledge of its contents. Trump’s fourth tweet references Schiff reciting an inaccurate depiction of Trump’s phone call that he defended as “meant to be at least part in parody.”
Harris called Trump’s tweets “blatant threats” that “represent a clear intent to baselessly discredit the whistleblower and officials in our government” while “making blatant threats that put people at risk and our democracy in danger.” She wrote that “Twitter should consider suspending his account.”
A Twitter spokesperson told CNBC that the company plans to respond to the letter.
“It is not surprising that Kamala Harris, someone who believes in bigger government and more regulation, would like to silence her political opponents,” a White House spokesperson replied. “In fact, it’s rather authoritarian of her. President Trump’s use of technology to communicate directly with the American people and share his Administration’s unprecedented accomplishments should be praised, not criticized.”
Several public figures criticized Harris for her request, including two other Democrats vying for their party’s 2020 presidential nod:
I don’t believe @SenKamalaHarris or any other 2020 Dems should be kicked off Twitter. The only calls for censorship come from the Left. Kamala, if you disagree w/ @realDonaldTrump then debate him on the merits. Don’t call on Big Tech billionaires to silence views you don’t like. https://t.co/m7xIJhLVnO
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 2, 2019
Hey, @jack. As a journalist I think Trump's tweets are extremely newsworthy and I'm happy that you've given the President of the United States a platform to communicate in a direct and unfiltered way with the public. https://t.co/ezoSzX5nGk
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 2, 2019
#NEW: Sen. Elizabeth Warren breaks with Sen. Kamala Harris, saying Pres. Trump should not be banned from Twitter. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also says she disagrees with Harris.pic.twitter.com/YiQdddug1W
— Chloe Salsameda (@ChloeSalsameda) October 2, 2019
#NEW: 2020 Democratic hopeful Tulsi Gabbard says she does not agree with calls by Sen. Kamala Harris to have Pres. Trump's Twitter account suspended: “I think freedom of speech is something that is an important, foundational, right in our democracy.”pic.twitter.com/nvQYoZhXNU
— Jennifer Franco (@jennfranconews) October 2, 2019
RealClearPolitics’ polling average currently puts Harris in fifth place among the top 13 candidates of the 2020 Democrat field, with 4.8 percent of the vote.