Judiciary Committee approves subpoenas for Facebook, Twitter chiefs

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee continued on Thursday to push for a hearing with the chief executives of Facebook and Twitter before the Nov. 3 presidential election, authorizing subpoenas to both companies for testimony related to their handling of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story.

The committee agreed, 12-0, to allow Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to subpoena Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Facebook, and Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, over the silent objections of Democrats who were not present because they were boycotting a separate vote to advance to the Senate floor the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court.

Graham said Democrats on the committee had asked him to delay voting on the subpoena authorization but that he decided to move forward because of bipartisan interest in Zuckerberg and Dorsey.

A representative for

Facebook declined to comment. A representative for Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

Graham said he hoped the authorization of subpoenas would give the committee “leverage” to secure voluntary testimony from Zuckerberg and Dorsey.

Both men are already scheduled to appear before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Oct. 28, less than a week before the election. The Commerce committee had unanimously backed similar subpoenas, after which Zuckerberg, Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all agreed to testify voluntarily.

But GOP Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, both members of the Judiciary Committee, were quick to call for a hearing separate from the Commerce committee after Facebook and Twitter limited the spread of the Post’s story on Biden and his father, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, which made dubious claims questioned by fact-checkers and other news outlets.