Comer: Parler Response to Democrats’ Baseless Probe Exposes Overreach

Voices concerns for Democrats’ censorship efforts targeted at certain speech

March 26, 2021

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) issued the following statement after Parler exposed Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney’s blatantly partisan and baseless attacks against the company:

“Today Parler fully debunked Chairwoman Maloney’s claims as not only baseless, but outrageous and entirely fictitious. Democrats and their Big Tech allies have sought to exploit the January 6 riot to further muzzle certain viewpoints while blatantly ignoring other platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, for their role in the riot. Republicans called out this hypocrisy and requested Chairwoman Maloney to expand her probe, but she refused. Parler’s response to Chairwoman Maloney exposes the Democrats’ overreach and debunks their wild conspiracy theories about the platform. Democrats must cease their overtly partisan efforts to target certain speech and undermine Americans’ First Amendment rights.”

Earlier this year, Chairwoman Maloney called on the FBI to investigate Parler for its role in the attack on the Capitol but ignored the role other social media platforms played. Ranking Member Comer and Congressman Greg Steube (R-Fla.) wrote to Chairwoman Maloney demanding she amend her FBI request to include the other tech platforms, but she never did.