Sen. Cotton: 'Big tech oligarchs declaring war' on Trump, GOP by censoring Hunter Biden reports

Sen. Tom Cotton said on Thursday that "big tech oligarchs" have declared war on President Trump and the Republican Party by censoring the New York Post's reporting about Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings while his father, Joe Biden, was serving as former President Obama's vice president. 

"You have big tech oligarchs declaring war on Donald Trump, on the Republican Party and conservatives across America; locking down the account of one of the most widely circulated oldest and most venerable newspapers in America; locking down the account of the press secretary to the president of the United States; locking down the account of the president's campaign, refusing to allow people to post the URL to that story," Cotton said during a press call organized by the Trump campaign.

"And then they just issue a mealy mouthed apology, saying that they could have communicated better. And today, yet again, Twitter locked down this story, prohibiting it being circulated. That is not exactly the standard that big tech oligarchs applied to every story about Donald Trump over the last five years, or to every story about Brett Kavanaugh two years ago," he added.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham and Sen. Ted Cruz, a member of the committee, said Thursday that Facebook and Twitter's leaders should testify before Congress about the censorship of the Hunter Biden story. 

Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said Twitter and Facebook, in particular, have "enjoyed total immunity" under the Communications Decency Act but suggested that will change soon.

"And for all of those tech oligarchs who think they can get away with this, I will simply say that winter is coming. They have enjoyed total immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That is going to change soon because the millions of Americans who believe in God and believe in national sovereignty and believe in the Constitution will not tolerate these monopolists continuing to dictate the flow of information in this country," he said. 

"That's what is at stake in this election and all of the oligarchs in Silicon Valley can censor our voices as much as they want but our voices will be louder on November 3," he added.

Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks said the New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden's financial deals in Ukraine and China raise questions about what his father knew.

In the past, Biden has said he never discussed any overseas business dealings with his son. Banks cited a specific line from an email in the reports that mentions the "big guy" getting an equity share in a Chinese business deal. Banks said that "big guy" might be a reference to the former vice president.

"So we want to know today is Joe Biden the big guy in a flowchart of business structure someone has identified as quote, chairman?" he said.

Cotton questioned why the social media companies didn't censor the New York Times report on Trump's tax returns, given that the tax information was reportedly given to the newspaper from an anonymous source. 

"Is that the standard that Twitter applied to the New York Times reporting on Donald Trump's so-called tax returns? Is that the standard that Twitter applied to the so-called transcripts of calls that President Trump had with foreign heads of state that were scurrilously leaked early in his administration?" he asked.