Ted Cruz signs up to Donald Trump’s war on Twitter and calls for criminal probe into whether it is breaking sanctions law by letting Iran’s leaders have accounts
- The Texas senator wrote AG Bill Barr and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
- He is seeking a probe of whether Twitter violated Iran sanctions law by allowing Iranian leaders to maintain accounts
- On Thursday Trump threatened to ‘shut down’ Twitter, and signed a new executive order that could expose it to avalanche of lawsuits
- Trump continued to attack Twitter Friday as it again slapped a warning label on a tweet
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is providing some backup for President Trump’s war on Twitter – writing Attorney General Bill Barr to seek an investigation into possible ‘criminal violations’ over allowing Iranian government accounts.
Cruz wrote Barr, as well as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin as the president blasted Twitter online and the firm attacked warnings to his second set of tweets after the president tweeted about chaos in Minneapolis in a way Twitter said violated a policy on ‘glorifying violence.’
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is seeking a probe of whether Twitter violated Iran sanctions law by allowing Iranian leaders to maintain accounts
Cruz wants the Trump administration to probe whether the site is violating tough U.S. sanctions on Iran by allowing Iranian political leaders to maintain Twitter accounts.
‘I believe that the primary goal of (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act) and sanctions law should be to change the behavior of designated individuals and regimes, not American companies,” Cruz wrote to the two cabinet secretaries.
“But when a company willfully and openly violates the law after receiving formal notice that it is unlawfully supporting designated individuals, the federal government should take action,’ he added, in a letter reported by Axios.
Cruz referenced his own February letter to the company warning that ‘Twitter and its principals face criminal liability and sanctions exposure for providing social media accounts to Iranian persons.’
President Donald Trump holds up a copy of the New York Post as speaks before signing an executive order aimed at curbing protections for social media giants, in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in Washington. He clashed with Twitter again Friday after it slapped a warning label on his tweet for ‘glorifying violence’
The Texas senator wrote AG Bill Barr and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
Cruz also wrote President Trump
Shortly after complaining about Twitter putting a warning label over his tweet, the White House’s official Twitter account reposted the message verbatim
Twitter today added its second warning to a Donald Trump tweet in four days by covering the president’s message about the Minneapolis riots with a comment that it ‘glorifies violence’
Trump’s 1am tweet described the looters as ‘thugs’ and warned that the federal government would ‘assume control’ with ‘shooting’ if necessary after protesters set fire to a police precinct.
He cited sanctions law prohibiting contributions of goods or services to two top Iranian officials – Supreme leader Khamenei, who’s Twitter handle is @khamenei_ir, and Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, whose handle is @JZarif.
Cruz in his letter wrote that even as top officials maintain their own accounts, ‘Iranian officials ban Iranian citizens from accessing Twitter. In early April, Khamenei and Zarif used their Twitter accounts to post anti-American disinformation and conspiracy theories, not authoritative health information. They use their accounts provided by Twitter to threaten and taunt their enemies real and imagined,’ he wrote.
Twitter argues that allowing the top Iranian officials to maintain accounts is in the public interest and in keeping with ‘fundamental values of openness, free expression, public accountability, and mutual understanding.’
On Thursday Trump threatened to ‘shut down’ Twitter, and signed a new executive order that could leave social media platforms subject to an avalanche of lawsuits.
‘We’re here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers it has faced in American history, frankly, and you know what’s going on as well as anybody. It’s not good,’ Trump said before inking the order, which came just days after Twitter for the first time provided what Trump’s staff calls a fact-check on his own tweets.
Twitter flagged President Trump’s tweet saying it was ‘glorifying violence’ for a second time after the official White House account reposted it Friday morning.
‘These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!’ the tweet read.