(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The transgender-identifying boyfriend of Tyler Robinson, the main suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk, has fled his Utah home amid backlash that he failed to alert police after Robinson allegedly confessed to the killing.
The boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, shared a $1,800-a-month townhouse with Robinson at the time Robinson opened fire and killed Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. However, Twiggs has not been spotted anywhere near the home since the horrific murder, the New York Postreported Tuesday.
Twiggs’s home is in St. George, a city in Washington County, Utah. After Robinson’s arrest, Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby said Twiggs was in a “safe space very far away from St. George,” though he offered no specifics.
Headline USA contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday afternoon and left a voicemail. Later that evening, Sgt. Lucas Alfred returned the call, saying Twiggs was never detained by the agency nor provided shelter.
Lance Twiggs, Tyler Robinson’s transgender lover, has disappeared from the Utah townhouse they both shared after cooperating with authorities.
Alfred stated the Sheriff’s Office may have assisted with transportation as part of the overall state investigation.
Meanwhile, neighbors told the Post on Wednesday that they have not seen Twiggs at the home in recent days.
Jesse Riley, a resident, said: “It definitely is a shock it happened here. It’s a quiet neighborhood. You know your neighbor on your left or your right, but people are pretty isolated. I haven’t seen anyone come out. There are still all these notes on the door, so it looks like nobody has been in there.”
Twiggs’s apparent disappearance came as he faced mounting backlash for failing to notify law enforcement of Robinson’s whereabouts after Kirk’s death.
Shortly after the shooting, Robinson allegedly texted Twiggs about his horrendous act. “You weren’t the one who did it right????” Twiggs texted Robinson, to which he replied: “I am, I’m sorry.”
It is unclear what Twiggs did following the confession, though Robinson allegedly told him to remain silent if contacted by police.
Robinson was ultimately turned over by his parents and a family friend who served as a law enforcement officer in Utah. He’s currently on suicide watch.
(Money Metals News Service) In this week’s Money Metals Midweek Memo, host Mike Maharrey tackled two major themes: the Federal Reserve’s latest policy pivot and his firsthand look inside the Money Metals Exchange headquarters and depository in Eagle, Idaho.
The episode highlighted the ongoing challenges of monetary policy, the bullish outlook for precious metals, and the robust systems in place at America’s leading sound money company – Money Metals.
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates Despite Inflation Pressures
The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11–1 last week to cut the federal funds rate by a quarter point, setting the target between 4 and 4.25 percent. This came even as the official statement admitted that “inflation has moved up and remains somewhat elevated.”
Chair Jerome Powell tried to calm markets by framing the move as “risk management” rather than a desperate rescue, but the Fed has clearly chosen to stimulate a weakening economy at the expense of price stability.
The lone dissenter, Trump appointee Steven Myron, actually wanted a larger half-point cut, underscoring how little appetite there was within the committee for holding the line.
The Fed’s dot plot projections showed two more cuts this year and only one in 2026, down from three projected just a few months ago. That shift was read as hawkish messaging, though the Fed’s record on forecasting interest rates is abysmal.
Analyst David Haye found they’ve only been right 37 percent of the time—worse than flipping a coin.
Inflationary Policy and the Money Supply
Mike Maharrey pointed out that rate cuts are inflationary by definition in a fractional reserve banking system. Expanding credit expands the money supply.
As of July 2024, M2 had risen by more than $600 billion from its mid-2023 low, climbing to $22.12 trillion and surpassing pandemic-era peaks. Inflationary pressure is baked in, even if official numbers understate it.
Using today’s CPI, the real interest rate hovers between 1.25 and 1.6 percent. If you apply the 1970s formula, real inflation looks closer to 6 or 7 percent, which means true real rates are barely above zero and sometimes negative.
Thomas Sowell’s old line that “there are no solutions, only trade-offs” sums up the Fed’s dilemma. Policymakers are trading off persistently high inflation for a chance to keep a fragile economy propped up.
Maharrey argued that stagflation—weak growth alongside stubborn price pressures—is no longer a theoretical risk but a present reality.
Precious Metals Rally
Loose monetary policy and negative real rates are ideal conditions for gold and silver. Both metals surged following the Fed’s decision. Gold nearly touched $3,800 an ounce this week, while silver climbed to around $45.
With inflationary policy locked in, Maharrey sees plenty of upside left, particularly for silver. The opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like precious metals has virtually disappeared, making them more attractive as safe-haven stores of wealth.
For him, it was a first chance to meet coworkers in person after more than a year of remote work.
What stood out most was the caliber of the team. Employees were engaged, enthusiastic, and genuinely interested in helping customers preserve wealth. Precious metals specialists demonstrated deep knowledge and a willingness to guide newcomers through the complexities of gold and silver investing.
The depository itself left a strong impression. Metals are handled with multiple layers of redundancy, strict auditing, and segregation.
Every customer’s holdings are boxed, tracked, and never mixed with others.
The security is formidable, from advanced technology to a staff of well-armed employees—Idaho being a Second Amendment-friendly state. Maharrey joked that trying to rob the facility would be a fool’s errand.
At one point, he found himself standing beside a pallet of seventy-pound silver bars worth over a million dollars, a vivid reminder of the scale of operations.
Storing metals at home provides physical possession and eliminates counterparty risk, but it also comes with the obvious vulnerability of theft. Using a professional depository, such as the Money Metals Depository, introduces some fees and an element of counterparty risk, yet provides unmatched security.
As Sowell might say, the choice is all about trade-offs.
Maharrey came away convinced that Money Metals’ systems and safeguards put it well above the industry’s many questionable operators.
Special Tribute Product: Charlie Kirk Silver Round
The round features a colorized portrait on one side and the Turning Point USA logo with one of Kirk’s quotes on the other: “Courage is committing yourself to the correct course of action regardless of the cost.”
Maharrey praised the silver round as a beautiful way to honor Kirk while supporting an organization he built.
Conclusion
The Midweek Memo closed with a reminder that the Fed has once again chosen inflation over restraint, a decision that continues to strengthen the case for owning gold and silver.
Maharrey left Idaho impressed with Money Metals’ operations and more convinced than ever of the importance of sound money in an age of easy money policies.
For investors willing to weigh their own trade-offs, the lesson was clear: precious metals remain one of the few assets positioned to endure whatever the Fed chooses to unleash next.
(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) Multiple people have been shot at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, Texas, including two fatalities, in what law enforcement officials are describing as a “targeted” attack.
During a news conference on Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials confirmed that four individuals were shot in total, two deceased, including the suspected shooter; none of the victims were law enforcement.
Joe Rothrock, special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI, said the incident is being investigated as “an act of targeted violence.”
“What I can also share with you is that early evidence that we’ve seen from rounds that were found near the suspected shooter contain messages that are anti-ICE in nature,” said Rothrock.
“While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack…One of the unspent shell casings recovered was engraved with the phrase ‘ANTI ICE.’ More updates will be forthcoming,” Patel posted to X. “These despicable, politically motivated attacks against law enforcement are not a one-off. We are only miles from Prarieland Texas where just two months ago an individual ambushed a separate ICE facility targeting their officers. It has to end and the FBI and our partners will lead the these investigative efforts to see to it that those who target our law enforcement are pursued and brought to the fullest extent of justice.”
Joshua Johnson, acting field office director for ICE Dallas, says the rhetoric against ICE needs to stop.
“This is the second time I had to stand in front of you to talk about a shooter at one of my facilities. And I think the takeaway from all of this is that the rhetoric has to stop. There are people out there who are seeing what is being placed online, and they’re coming in, they’re doing acts of violence against ICE employees…It’s just got to stop. It’s dangerous, and people are losing their lives,” said Johson.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was on hand for the news conference, echoing Johnson’s comments, admonishing the violence and anti-ICE rhetoric.
“This is the third shooting in Texas directed at ICE or CPB. This must stop. To every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and demonizing CPB. Stop to every politician demanding that ICE agents be doxed and calling for people to go after their families,” said Cruz.
On Aug. 25, exactly one month before the shooting, the ICE facility received a bomb threat. A suspect, identified as Bratton Dean Wilkinson, was arrested. Homeland Security officials say the suspect arrived at the reporting entrance, claiming to have a bomb in his backpack while showing “what he claimed to be a ‘detonator’ on his wrist.”
While the motive is unclear, the incident follows a July ambush on an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, resulting in one officer being shot in the neck. The White House has attributed the shooting to Antifa.
In addition to the attack on the facility in Alvarado, there have been several other attacks and threats on ICE facilities as well as ICE officials since President Donald Trump and his administration began cracking down on immigration.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Journalist James O’Keefe released undercover footage taken of a former Justice Department official claiming that deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was a CIA asset, and that rape took place on his plane while former President Bill Clinton was on board.
The footage released by O’Keefe shows Glenn Prager, whose LinkedIn claims that he once worked on “sensitive investigations involving major DOJ components, including the FBI, DEA, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals Service, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices.”
WORLD EXCLUSIVE BOMBSHELL: Senior DOJ Epstein Investigator Reveals ‘Epstein Was CIA’ — Confirms ‘R-pes Occurred While Bill Clinton Was on the Plane’ — Says of President Trump, "He’s Protecting a Lot of Other People… He’s Not Protecting Himself, Because There’s Nothing There"… pic.twitter.com/nsokVW8ejz
O’Keefe said the person who secretly filmed Prager first noticed him at an airport because he had a DOJ patch on his backpack.
“I’ve interviewed all the victims. There’s never been an instance where [Donald] Trump was on a plane with these kids and the rapes occurred. But that can’t be said for Clinton. And it can’t be said for others,” Prager said at one point, apparently exonerating Trump.
“They [DOJ] didn’t want to go after him [Epstein] because he’s an asset for the United States and Israel,” he said at another point.
“It’s not talked about yet but, it’s soon to come out that he [Epstein] was a CIA informant.”
Responding to O’Keefe’s report, the DOJ downplayed the role Prager played within the department, and called his claims baseless.
“As the Department has made clear, this individual left government service more than 15 years ago in a brief junior role,” a DOJ spokesperson said.
Regarding James O’Keefe’s latest “BOMBSHELL”:
As the Department has made clear, this individual left government service more than 15 years ago in a brief junior role. He has no knowledge of or access to this investigation, and his assertions are baseless.
“He has no knowledge of or access to this investigation, and his assertions are baseless. Exploiting survivors of sexual abuse by fabricating stories for personal gain is reprehensible.”
As has been widely documented, Epstein had relationships with numerous high-ranking U.S. and Israeli officials, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barrack and former CIA Director William Burns. The father of his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, was also an Israeli intelligence asset.
Researchers have argued that Epstein’s intelligence connections was a major reason why he was allowed to operate with impunity for decades.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
(Spencer Pauley,The Center Square) Amid Seattle Police Department hiring gains, a recent television advertisement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security actively recruiting Seattle law enforcement to Immigration and Customs Enforcement is frustrating city leaders.
The commercial includes shots of Seattle’s city landscape on a clear sunny day with Mount Rainier in the background, paired with booking photographs of men who are presumably illegal immigrants.
A narrator says, “Attention Seattle law enforcement, you took an oath to protect and serve. To keep your family, your city safe, but in sanctuary cities, you’re ordered to stand down, while dangerous illegals walk free. Join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst: drug traffickers, gang members, predators.”
Recruiting new officers to the Seattle Police Department amid staffing levels being that are the lowest since the 1990s has been a top priority for Mayor Bruce Harrell and other elected officials. Harrell referred to the ICE ad as “political theater” that puts politics over public safety.
“The recent efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeting Seattle Police officers in their recruiting campaign using misstatements of both law and fact is disappointing and insulting to the oath that officers took when they raised their hands and swore to uphold the Constitution and serve and protect Seattle communities,” Harrell said in a statement shared with The Center Square.
According to Harrell, the Seattle Police Department has hired nearly 130 police officers so far this year, almost three times as many as the same period in 2024.
The ICE commercial also noted that new hires can receive bonuses of up to $50,000. This matches Seattle’s lateral hire bonus of $50,000 and is 566.7% more than the $7,500 for new hires.
Seattle is labeled a “sanctuary city” due to its “don’t ask policy,” which has been in place since 2003. The city law bars Seattle employees, including police officers, from inquiring about someone’s immigration status. ICE is left alone to conduct searches and arrests of illegal immigrants.
“Trump is trying to deport our neighbors while weakening the progress we’ve made on public safety as a pretext to sending in the National Guard. I have one message: Stay out of Seattle,” Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson said in an email to The Center Square.
Seattle Police Officer Guild President Mike Solan declined to comment on the matter, but signaled he may have something to say in the near future.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Penn., introduced the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act on Tuesday. The program establishes an H-2C visa program for temporary, low-skilled workers in areas where American workers have consistently not been hired.
“The Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act is a commonsense, bipartisan, and market-driven solution that addresses workforce shortages in key industries while ensuring American workers are prioritized,” Smucker said. “This guest worker program will help employers fill positions that have remained vacant for months and grow our economy.”
U.S. Customs and Immigration Services offers several visa programs for foreign workers across various skill levels. However, advocates and lawmakers have said these programs are not always fully utilized and tend to have burdensome caps which limit employment opportunities for foreign workers.
Jordan Fischetti, an immigration policy fellow at the Americans for Prosperity, said the H-2C visa program helps fill in the gaps where programs like H-2A and H-2B programs might not pick up certain workers.
“It would basically help to get more temporary workers into the U.S.,” Fischetti said.
The legislation suggests placing an initial cap of 65,000 H-2C visas on the program and allowing demand to dictate whether the cap should increase or decrease between 45,000 and 85,000 visas.
The H-2C program would be valid for three years and eligible for renewal twice, allowing an immigrant up to nine years of legal status in the United States.
The legislation restricts program participation to employers in areas where unemployment is 7.9% or less in an apparent effort to prevent American workers from being disadvantaged. The bill also would require employers to demonstrate that a position has gone unfilled for three consecutive months.
Immigrants who apply for the program must receive an offer letter of employment and pass a criminal background check. Foreign workers are not allowed to bring any family members and cannot come from a country that supports international terrorism, per the U.S. Secretary of State. Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria are all considered countries that support international terrorism.
Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, praised the bill’s introduction for its impact on the restaurant industry.
“This year, restaurant operators are forecast to create 200,000 new jobs, but with a shortage of people in the U.S. workforce, it will be a challenge to fill those jobs,” Kennedy said. “There is no silver bullet that will solve the industry’s recruitment challenge, but the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act creates one opportunity to address the issue.”
However, Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project, said adding an H-2C visa program would not fix the problem American businesses are facing and it would prevent Americans from getting jobs.
“What we need to do is reform the existing visas to make sure that they are not being used by employers as a source of cheap labor in order to not hire American workers,” Jenks said.
According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, average hourly wages in industries employing H-2B visa workers were as much as 22% lower than national average hourly wages. The H-2B program is used for nonagricultural temporary workers, primarily in landscaping, construction and hospitality industries.
“The importation of foreign workers drives wages down,” Jenks said. “We see that in the H-2B program.”
Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., and Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., were among 10 lawmakers who joined Smucker in cosponsoring the bill.
Smucker previously introduced the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act in 2023.
(Headline USA) Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has ordered a senior U.S. Justice Department official to drop an inquiry into a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit involving Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” sent a letter dated Sept. 15 to the Sandy Hook families’ lawyer asking for information about former FBI agent William Aldenberg. The request “caused frustrations” within the department, and Blanche directed Martin to withdraw the letter, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal agency matters.
The Sandy Hook families’ lawyer, Christopher Mattei, said he received a new letter from Martin on Wednesday, saying there was no investigation of Aldenberg and “I hereby withdraw my request for information.”
“Less than 18 hours after calling out Alex Jones and Ed Martin for their corrupt use of the Department of Justice to harass Sandy Hook families and the heroic FBI agent who ran into that school to save any children he could, I am happy to learn that this so-called inquiry has now been withdrawn, if it ever existed at all,” Mattei said in a statement.
Martin had asked in the letter whether Aldenberg received any financial benefits from helping to organize the lawsuit, in which he was a plaintiff along with victims’ family members. The lawsuit filed in Connecticut led to a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones for defamation and inflicting emotional distress.
Aldenberg, like the parents and other relatives of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has been the subject of false conspiracy theories spread by Jones on his “Infowars” broadcasts.
Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.
(José Niño, Headline USA) Newly unearthed documents reveal how US authorities’ secrecy led to the release of a man now at the center of a trillion-dollar lawsuit over 9/11.
British law enforcement agency Scotland Yard was compelled to release Omar al-Bayoumi, the alleged Saudi intelligence officer accused of supporting the 9/11 hijackers, after the FBI failed to share crucial evidence discovered during their investigation, per British media outlet The Times.
24 years after the attacks, officers and victims’ families continue searching for answers to lingering questions about Bayoumi and the role of the Saudi state in the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Pretty interesting development in the long-running 9/11 civil litigation. It was revealed earlier this month that attack plans pictured on the left belong to the man on the right–a Saudi agent and alleged CIA asset pic.twitter.com/wNTvS0GTpB
British counterterrorism officers interviewed Bayoumi 10 days after the Twin Towers fell. During a search of his Birmingham home, they found notebooks containing a crude airplane sketch and calculations for flight descent, alongside 80 videos, including footage with Bayoumi meeting two hijackers, The Times reported.
One confiscated tape showed Bayoumi filming Capitol Hill alongside Saudi diplomats—individuals the FBI later described as having a “nexus” with the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Yet the notebook and crucial video were withheld from UK police, and authorities were never told Bayoumi had previously been investigated by the FBI in the 1990s.
Detective Constable David Campbell, who interrogated Bayoumi, recalled, “I would have taken Bayoumi to the cleaners on those pieces of evidence.” Shocked by the lack of cooperation, Campbell explained to The Times. “I still think about it, and I am shocked to this day.” Ultimately, the efforts to extradite Bayoumi to the United States were rejected by US officials who cited insufficient evidence.
Court documents that The Times acquired revealed Bayoumi received inflated sums from the Saudi government-linked aviation firm Dallah Avco—up to $6,500 a month plus a $90,000 education stipend. FBI agents traced financial connections between Bayoumi and two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.
Bayoumi not only paid their first month’s rent and deposit but also signed the lease on their apartment in San Diego, a few doors down from his own. Though Bayoumi claimed these meetings were coincidental, police found a notebook and videos suggesting foreknowledge and support.
Campbell described Bayoumi’s demeanor during interrogation as “very, very measured, very calm, very collected, very as if he just knew what to say.” Officers concluded there were “too many coincidences in Bayoumi’s story; too many things that stretched credibility or could not be explained,” per The Times report.
When pressed, Campbell told Bayoumi he was “equally as guilty as the hijackers who crashed the aircraft and killed all those people.” Bayoumi replied, “I don’t have any involvement in this situation at all”, The Times reported.
The original evidence—including the crucial aircraft sketch and address book—was returned to Bayoumi before he permanently left the UK for Saudi Arabia in August 2002. Years later, an FBI technician in Washington discovered a copy of the sketch among materials marked “Omar al-Bayoumi.”
The diagram, experts found, contained formulas for computing an aircraft’s descent to a target without GPS—knowledge not typical in basic flight training. The materials, declassified only in 2021, indicated Bayoumi acted as a “co-optee” of Saudi intelligence and supported the hijackers as part of a coordinated operation.
In his 2021 deposition via Zoom, that The Times had recordings of, Bayoumi admitted the diagram was in his handwriting but insisted, “It’s an equation like any other equation.” Yet newly disclosed evidence from The Times, which obtained 900 pages of interview transcripts and nearly 11 hours of custody recordings, shows Bayoumi conducting extensive surveillance, including filming Washington landmarks and recording aircraft landings.
Such actions were described by former FBI agent Bassem Youssef as textbook “al-Qaeda casing a terrorist target,” as The Times reported. Despite this, the 9/11 Commission never received these materials.
A trillion-dollar lawsuit spearheaded by victims’ families alleges Saudi government officials aided the hijackers and provided a support network. Gavin Simpson, counsel for the families, insisted, “At every step, at every juncture, Bayoumi acted in coordination with the Saudi government network that tasked him,” The Times highlighted. In a critical ruling, as Axios reported, Judge George Daniels found families had provided “reasonable evidence” that Bayoumi and another Saudi were sent by their government to assist the terrorists, paving the way for a public trial.
The Times concluded that British and American officials have generally denied knowledge or declined comment on Bayoumi’s arrest and release. Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, stated, “The public and the victims’ families deserve answers.” Lord Beamish, parliament’s intelligence committee chair, affirmed, “These revelations are deeply concerning and raise serious questions of why no action was taken against Bayoumi. The families understandably want to know why.”
Saudi Arabia continues to deny all allegations.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reported Wednesday that Obama-era FBI Director James Comey is going to be indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia.
“The full extent of the charges being prepared against Comey is unclear, but the sources believe that at least one element of the indictment—if it goes forward–will accuse him of lying to Congress during his testimony on September 30, 2020, about whether he authorized a leak of information,” Dilanian said on Twitter/X.
BREAKING
Former FBI Director James Comey is expected to be indicted in the coming days.
Federal prosecutors are looking to indict him for lying to congress.
Dilanian was likely referencing the allegations that Comey authorized the leak of information to news media ahead of the 2016 election. The DOJ Inspector General reportedly found that Comey asked his friend to share the contents of a memo with the New York Times to pressure the DOJ to investigate his conversations with President Donald Trump.
The DOJ declined to prosecute Comey over the leak in 2019, but his alleged 2020 perjury opens him up to new legal liability. There is a five-year statute of limitations for perjury, meaning that Comey would have to be indicted by this Tuesday.
Fox News Digital reported in July that both Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan and are under investigation by the Justice Department for their roles in the politicized and fruitless Russiagate investigation, as well as for making false statements to Congress.
FBI Director Kashyap Patel is also reportedly running an investigation into whether there was a “grand conspiracy” between intelligence officials and Democratic politicians.
Patel’s FBI’s broader conspiracy case would allow a special prosecutor more time to connect recent alleged crimes to older events, treating them as part of a continuing conspiracy or racketeering operation. The probe could also enable the empaneling of a grand jury outside Washington, D.C., where Trump has historically faced unfavorable juries. Florida, where overt acts of the alleged conspiracy occurred, is being considered as an alternative venue.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
(Headline USA) YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election policies that are no longer in effect, its parent company Alphabet said Tuesday.
In a letter submitted in response to subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, attorneys for Alphabet said the decision to bring back banned accounts reflected the company’s commitment to free speech. It said the company values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes their reach and important role in civic discourse.
“No matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression on its platform, particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate,” the letter read.
The move is the latest in a cascade of content moderation rollbacks from tech companies, who cracked down on content during the pandemic and after the 2020 election but have since faced pressure from President Donald Trump and other conservatives who argue they unlawfully stifled right-wing voices in the process.
It comes as tech CEOs, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, have sought a closer relationship with the Republican president, including through high-dollar donations to his campaign and attending events in Washington.
YouTube in 2023 phased out its policy to remove content that claims the 2020 election, or other past U.S. presidential elections, were marred by “widespread fraud, errors or glitches.”
The platform in 2024 also retired its standalone COVID-19 content restrictions, allowing various treatments for the disease to be discussed.
Among the creators who have been banned from YouTube under the now-expired policies are prominent conservative influencers, including Dan Bongino, who now serves as deputy director of the FBI. For people who make money on social media, access to monetization on YouTube can be significant, earning them large sums through ad revenue.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and other congressional Republicans have pressured tech companies to reverse content moderation policies created under former President Joe Biden and accused Biden’s administration of unfairly wielding its power over the companies to chill lawful online speech.
In Tuesday’s letter, Alphabet’s lawyers said senior Biden administration officials “conducted repeated and sustained outreach” to coerce the company to remove pandemic-related YouTube videos that did not violate company policies.
“It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content, and the Company has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds,” the letter said.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also accused the Biden administration of pressuring employees to inappropriately censor content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Elon Musk, the owner of the social platform X, has accused the FBI of illegally coercing Twitter before his tenure to suppress a story about Hunter Biden.
