Elon Musk meets with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries

Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries on the US Capitol in Washington on Thursday night.

McCarthy, leaving the assembly with Musk in his workplace, declined to remark aside from to say: “He got here for my birthday.” The California Republican turned 58 on Thursday.

After the assembly, Musk wrote on Twitter that he met with McCarthy and Jeffries “to debate guaranteeing that this platform is honest to each events.”

In response to a supply accustomed to the matter, Jeffries met with McCarthy partially to obtain a legislation enforcement briefing relating to Capitol Hill preparations in case there are protests following the anticipated launch of video Friday from the arrest of Tyre Nichols, who died earlier this month following a site visitors cease.

Musk later arrived for a separate assembly with McCarthy – and Jeffries had a short interplay with the billionaire businessman. The topic of Twitter got here up however the supply didn’t present particulars.

Jeffries left quickly after, and McCarthy stayed with Musk till the speaker left for flooring votes, the supply mentioned.

The assembly between Musk and congressional leaders comes because the Home Oversight Committee is planning to carry a listening to subsequent month centered on Twitter and the way it dealt with a narrative about Hunter Biden’s laptop computer. The Home GOP convention members have promised rigorous oversight into massive tech and social media platforms, which they’ve accused of conservative censorship.

The panel invited three former Twitter workers to testify, and is in lively discussions with the trio about showing in entrance of the committee, based on a number of sources accustomed to the matter. The committee is February 8 as a possible goal date for the listening to, the sources mentioned.

The style during which Twitter dealt with the Hunter Biden laptop computer story has been the topic of a number of so-called Twitter Information stories, company communications which were disseminated to journalists hand-picked by Musk and his group at Twitter. The Twitter Information have proven the corporate’s moderation group agonized over how you can deal with preliminary tales concerning the saga. Though early information stories have been blocked or downplayed, the corporate shortly reversed course and allowed them to be posted and mentioned on the platform.

Musk has developed a fame as a polarizing determine within the tech trade and for his political beliefs. He has incessantly weighed in publicly on US coverage and the political panorama in latest months. Musk has mentioned that he has voted for Democrats and Republicans up to now however has not too long ago favored conservatives and says he identifies as Republican.

The assembly comes amid a political energy shift in Washington after Republicans took management of the Home of Representatives in January and elected McCarthy as speaker.

This story and headline have been up to date with extra developments.