This blatant attempt to silence a journalist shines a spotlight on the increasing threat to free press in the United States.

Previously, during a House Judiciary Select Subcommittee hearing on the Federal Government's Weaponization, Plaskett had dismissed Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger as "so-called journalists" and sought to discredit their testimony on government pressure influencing speech restrictions on Twitter. In a letter obtained by investigative journalist Lee Fang, Plaskett cites alleged errors in Taibbi's work to bolster her claim of perjury and reminds him that giving false testimony to Congress carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

The basis for Plaskett's perjury accusation lies in several alleged inaccuracies in Taibbi's publication of the Twitter Files. MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan brought these alleged inaccuracies to light during an interview and used them to argue that the entire Twitter Files project was fundamentally flawed. However, Hasan failed to explain how these errors invalidated the basis of the Twitter Files revelations.