Homeland Security Cited Inaccurate Allegation to Censor New York Times Journalist | RealClearInvestigations

As the 2020 Election Day count dragged on into the next morning in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin, the New York Times campaign reporter Reid Epstein reported a hiccup at 4:52 a.m.: Green Bay s absentee ballot results are being delayed because one of the vote-counting machines ran out of ink and an elections official had to return to City Hall to get more.

Eight minutes later Epstein sent a follow-up tweet giving the all-clear: Clerk has returned with printer ink!

This tiny drama from Wednesday, Nov. 4, would be lost to history but for the deep consternation it ignited among influential members of the government and tech industry. Details uncovered in the Twitter Files and revealed here for the first time show that Epstein s tweet prompted immediate and mostly successful speech suppression efforts by the Department of Homeland Security and others who were intent on undermining any facts or claims that might possibly be used to question the integrity of the 2020 election.

The episode is of more than passing historical note because it is the first known case of the agency attempting to silence a social media account associated with a national newspaper and because the Times, which has long professed to report the news without fear or favor, did little to push back against the censorship, even though nothing has emerged to invalidate Epstein s reporting.

via www.realclearinvestigations.com

Lee Fang.