Who Is Matt Taibbi?

My VIP for this week is Matt Taibbi who was a successful journalist when he was tapped to reveal some of the Twitter tapes. Last week, Taibbi testified about the Twitter tapes and was grilled by Democrats.

Democrat Delegate Stacey Plaskett (USVI) was one of the Democrats pressing Taibbi to reveal his sources. Despite his continual refusal to expose his sources, she kept demanding that he do so. Plaskett claimed that she did not ask the famous “Twitter Files” Journalist to disclose his sources. During his appearance before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) accused Taibbi of spreading “extreme MAGA Republican lies,misinformation, and outright conspiracy theories.” 

Taibbi responded, “Congresswoman, how does badgering a non-MAGA, non-Republican journalist to give up a source constitute fighting ‘Extreme MAGA Republican lies’?”

Plaskett, the ranking member of the subcommittee, defended Garcia and claimed that no one pressured Taibbi to reveal his sources. “No one is interested in revealing ‘journalists’ sources,” she claimed. “What we ALL should be interested in is what discussion, promises and/or deals Elon Musk has with Taibbi[,] Shellenberger[,] @HouseGOP[,] and definitely Jim Jordan @ HouseJudiciary.”

Taibbi stood strong in the Twitter fight just as he did during the hearing before Congress. He accused Plaskett of not being honest. He then used her own words to prove his point: “Your direct quote was, ‘Who gave you access to these emails?’”

I watched a video of the hearing, and I can vouch for Taibbi. Both he and Michael Shellenberger were the recipients of many incoming hits. Chris Enloe must have watched the same video of the subcommittee hearing because he claims that video shows that Taibbi is correct. 

At one point during the hearing, Plaskett asked him, “Who gave you access to these emails? Who is the individual that gave you permission to access the emails?”

Tiabbi responded that he attributed his information to “sources at Twitter” and explained that he would not say anything further about the sources. Still, Plaskett followed up and asked if Elon Musk is his source.

But Taibbi refused to entertain the question, instead maintaining his journalistic integrity and thus the secrecy of his sources.

As I watched Democrat representatives grill Taibbi and Shellenberger about their work and their honesty, I received hope. I actually saw honest journalists defending their sources and not bending to the will of Democrat lawmakers. I found it to be astonishing because both journalists are Democrats and are far from being members of MAGA or supporters of Donald Trump.