Testimony from Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a former company executive, has been "deeply concerning" and should worry everyone, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Newsmax, Wednesday.
"I'm glad the committee is doing the important oversight work because there are so many questions that need to be answered from Big Tech and the role they're playing right now in our society," the Missouri Republican, who is also the state's nominee in the race for the Senate, said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now."
Zatko's testimony included an admission that some Twitter employees were concerned that the Chinese government could collect data on the social media companies' users, and that a Chinese national was on the company's payroll.
Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for its role in "coordinating and colluding" with Big Tech, said Schmitt.
"We've already received discovery of direct communications from at least 45 administration officials," said Schmitt, including records of a "high-ranking Facebook official texting the surgeon general of the United States and saying, 'Hey, we heard what you had to say about that COVID post.'"
"These companies have completely gone astray," added Schmitt. "This oversight from the Homeland Security Committee is important. Our lawsuits are really important because the American people deserve to get answers because they have outsized power right now. And when the government works directly with Big Tech, they don't get to outsource this censorship, which is exactly what's happening."
Meanwhile, the federal courts have also ruled that senior White House officials must turn over their communications, including Dr. Anthony Fauci. Schmitt said that's a positive move.
"Think about what this administration has done," he said. "They weaponized the FBI to go after parents who dared to show up to school board meetings and exercise their First Amendment rights. They were going after them under the Patriot Act. You had this 'Ministry of Truth' ... some of these lawsuits have been filed in the past, and you've never actually gotten to see the documents and never got to look under the hood."
Schmitt said it should scare Americans, regardless of their political affiliations, to know that the government has been "working with private actors to deplatform people and shut them out of the town square."
"This is like something out of a Third-World country," he said. "This is not what's supposed to be happening in the United States, so we're going to get to the bottom of it. We're not going to let up because the American people deserve answers.
"Also, Anthony Fauci, just because he's resigning in December, he should not escape the Iran-Contra-like, wall-to-wall prime-time hearings when Republicans take over, so he ought to clear his calendar."
Schmitt also discussed the FBI's questioning of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and said that while he doesn't know much about the situation, "in general, we've never seen a more political DOJ at the top levels … this is scary stuff.
"What's the biggest concern in the broadest sense? Here is the polarization of the DOJ, which is not supposed to be that. It's supposed to be focused on the rule of law."
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