Trump plans with ‘broad investigation’ into Biden admin’s censorship of free speech and ‘weaponization’ of the law

Donald Trump issued two executive orders launching an investigation into Joe Biden’s White House for institutional censorship and weaponization of law enforcement.

The president signed at least 78 bills Monday that overturned several of his predecessor’s statements and orders.

Trump ordered that no federal official, employee or agent be allowed to unconstitutionally abridge the freedom of speech of any American citizen, a first step toward his campaign promise to end what he called government “censorship” of American citizens to dismantle.

The president’s executive order, issued just hours after he was sworn in for a second term, comes after Trump and his supporters accused the federal government of pressuring social media companies to remove lawful posts over disinformation concerns.

The order also directs the attorney general, in consultation with the heads of other executive agencies, to investigate how federal government actions during the four years of the Biden administration could have violated free speech and based of the findings to propose ‘remedial measures’.

Trump’s order, which he signed onstage at the Capital One Arena along with a slew of other executive actions, shows how motivated he is to crack down on what he calls the “censorship cartel” on his first day in office .

“The American people witnessed as the previous administration waged a systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal power of numerous federal law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, and civil enforcement actions. , and other related actions,” one of the orders read.

It’s a winning stance among his supporters, many of whom believe the federal government under Biden has unfairly targeted legitimate speech from right-wing voices.

Donald Trump issued two executive orders launching an investigation into Joe Biden’s White House for institutional censorship and weaponization of law enforcement

It's a winning stance among his supporters, many of whom believe the federal government under Biden has unfairly targeted legitimate speech from right-wing voices.

It’s a winning stance among his supporters, many of whom believe the federal government under Biden has unfairly targeted legitimate speech from right-wing voices.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently reiterated this accusation, saying that senior Biden administration officials have pressured his 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 forcing Twitter to suppress a story about Hunter Biden before his term.

While former Twitter executives admitted they made a mistake by blocking that story just before the 2020 presidential election, they have adamantly denied they acted in response to government pressure.

The Supreme Court sided with former President Joe Biden’s administration last year in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go in combating controversial social media posts on topics such as COVID-19 and election security.

Trump’s executive order fails to recognize the seriousness of harmful online falsehoods, which have increasingly evolved into real threats, intimidation and targeted violence.

Four years ago, Trump’s own barrage of lies about the 2020 election led to threats against election officials and culminated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

It is not yet clear how the order could affect the work that several U.S. agencies are doing to detect false claims that threaten election security, including the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. known as CISA.

CISA, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drawn criticism from Republicans for its efforts to combat disinformation.

Trump's order, which he signed onstage at the Capital One Arena, along with a series of other executive actions, shows how motivated he is to crack down on what he calls the

Trump’s order, which he signed onstage at the Capital One Arena, along with a series of other executive actions, shows how motivated he is to crack down on what he calls the “censorship cartel” on his first day in office .

Trump’s pick to lead DHS, South Dakota’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem, said during a Senate confirmation hearing last week that she was willing to rein in the agency’s work if that’s what federal lawmakers want.

Outgoing CISA director Jen Easterly has defended the agency’s work, saying it “doesn’t censor, never has censored.”

Nina Jankowicz, the CEO of the US Sunlight Project, said Trump’s order was “seeking revenge for a small thing that never happened.”

Jankowicz, who headed a federal government Disinformation Governance Board under Biden’s Department of Homeland Security that was disbanded after it came under attack by conservatives, said the order emboldens foreign actors and others “who use disinformation as a tool to destroy our country.” to destabilize and profit from lies. ‘

Trump’s order focuses on the Americans’ speech. It’s too early to say how this will affect the way federal agencies communicate with social media companies about false claims originating abroad.

Many disinformation campaigns by U.S. adversaries that target voters are promoted online by U.S. citizens.

Trump has branded himself as a champion of free speech since his first presidency, when he lashed out at the social platform then known as Twitter for placing fact-check labels on his tweets about mail-in ballots.

At the same time, he regularly targets the press, calling journalists the “enemy of the people,” and has threatened to seek retaliation against the news media during his second administration, including by suggesting that the broadcast licenses of certain television news networks should be revoked . .

President Donald Trump signs executive orders on stage at an indoor parade before the presidential inauguration in Washington

President Donald Trump signs executive orders on stage at an indoor parade before the presidential inauguration in Washington

After having a rocky relationship with social media companies in the past, Trump recently joined forces with the tech billionaires who run the platforms where Americans communicate with each other.

At his inauguration, he gave the first seats to Elon Musk, the owner of X, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, owner of YouTube.

Trump also took credit for TikTok’s return to the US and welcomed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to the Capitol for his swearing-in ceremony.

The president spent his first session in the Oval Office signing executive orders to pardon all Jan. 6 defendants and declare dangerous Mexican drug cartels as “terrorists” as he found a letter written to him by Joe Biden.

Trump said he pardoned about 1,500 defendants and issued six commutations. He also directed the attorney general to request dismissal of approximately 450 pending criminal cases against Jan. 6 suspects.

After hours of celebrating his new administration, Trump invited the press to his first Oval Office appearance.

Earlier, Trump turned his rally in a downtown Washington arena into a signing ceremony as he took up his pen and issued multiple executive actions to enact major policy changes.