Elon Musk fires Twitter deputy general counsel Jim Baker amid Hunter Biden laptop falloutFox Business, Dec 6, 2022
Elon Musk said that Twitter's former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker was "exited" from the company on Tuesday after revelations about his role in the platform's handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Baker was involved in discussions about whether the laptop falls under Twitter's "hacked materials" policy.
"I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked," Baker wrote in one email chain. "At this stage, however, it's reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted."
Baker was responding to a Twitter executive who was wondering whether they could "truthfully claim" that the laptop story was "part of the policy."
Before joining Twitter, Baker worked as general counsel at the FBI, where he was involved in the bureau's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Taibbi said Tuesday that he and another journalist, Bari Weiss, were dealing "with obstacles to new searches" when Weiss discovered that Baker was responsible for releasing the files over the weekend.
"The news that Baker was reviewing the 'Twitter files' surprised everyone involved, to say the least," Taibbi
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told "Fox & Friends First" on Monday that the House Oversight Committee will likely call Baker and other Twitter executives to testify about their handling of the laptop story.
"Baker and [former Twitter executive] Vijaya Gadde are probably the two most high-profile Twitter employees that we want to hear from," Comer said. "My advice to them is, prior to coming before the Oversight Committee in January or February, as quick as we can get them in front of the oversight committee, is they need to look very hard to try to find evidence as to why they suppressed this story."
Baker could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
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