Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined SiriusXM host Matt Boyle and co-host Steve Bannon on Tuesday’s Breitbart News Daily to talk about Twitter’s decision to block the video announcing her campaign for the Senate, on the grounds that it contained “inflammatory” language on abortion.
“We received notice yesterday morning through our digital team that Twitter issued a notice that they would not allow us to promote the video, because they had deemed the language in the video to be ‘inflammatory’ and ‘evoke a negative response,’ and that if I removed that pro-life, pro-woman, pro-baby language they would allow the video to go forward with promotion,” Blackburn said.
“Many people put a video up, and we launch a campaign, and you want to boost your post, and you want to push it forward,” she said. “Twitter is an important outlet, one that we were using, and of course we were disappointed with that.”
“They chose to double down on their decision to block our ability to promote that, which I see as censoring. I think most people see that as censoring,” she said.
“We chose to double down on our pro-life message. I am a pro-life legislator. I am a pro-life female,” Blackburn declared proudly. “I was not going to eliminate that in order to allow the video to be further promoted.”
“I think it’s caught a lot of people by surprise that Twitter would do this,” she observed. “Obviously Twitter was not offended when the practice that some of these third-party organizations that were participating in the sale of fetal body parts – which is illegal in this country. Bear that out. It’s against U.S. code.”
Bannon observed that the statement in her campaign video that she “stopped the sale of baby body parts” is a matter of fact, not a statement of opinion.
“That is correct,” Blackburn confirmed. “It is all things that we found in our congressional investigation, and as I chaired the select committee that handled this investigation. What we did was to issue 40 subpoenas. Out of that, we ended up making 15 criminal referrals against the big abortion providers who had contracted with these outside third-party organizations.”
“There was one of the organizations, Stem Express, that we found they were like the Amazon.com of body parts,” she continued. “You could log onto their website, you could go to a drop-down box in a menu, click the gestational age, order up a heart, lung, liver, whatever part you wanted, go to checkout, pay for it with a credit card, choose a shipping method, and have it sent to you.”
Blackburn said she is “pleased” that such practices have been “brought to an end.”
“Our committee as a whole did a tremendous job, working on a very short time frame. We delivered a good, solid product, and thus resulted in the criminal investigations,” she said. “We were an investigative committee, so the appropriate committees are now constructing legislation based on the findings that were yielded from our hearing.”
Blackburn vowed that she would continue to stand up for the pro-life movement, as she told Twitter when they gave her the option of removing the “inflammatory” portion of her video.
“I said no, the video stands. The video will continue to stand, and the message is my message. If that means I don’t have the ability to push it, because I’m not willing to alter it, then I’m not going to alter it,” she said.
Bannon asked why she decided to run for the seat of Senator Bob Corker, who Bannon has called upon to resign immediately after his online feud with President Donald Trump.
“Senator Corker had announced that he was retiring. I had said I would run for that seat, and that’s the campaign that we have launched,” Blackburn replied.
“You know, I don’t get into anybody else’s fights and disagreements, but I will say that I think Congress has a very full plate right now. The president ran on an agenda, and the American people voted for him. He was elected to execute that agenda. Both chambers of Congress were given Republican leadership to execute on that agenda with the President of the United States. I think it’s imperative that we stand with the president in getting that agenda across the line,” she said.
“You know, last night I was out in Maury County, in my district, speaking to the Cattlemen’s Association. After I finished my remarks and started to do Q&A, one of the very first questions was, ‘Why can’t we get anything out of the Senate?’ These individuals that were in the room, all well-informed, were so frustrated that health care insurance costs in Tennessee are continuing to rise, and the bill can’t seem to come out of the Senate,” said Blackburn.
“They are waiting for tax relief,” she added. “They’re all small businesses. They want to see lower tax rates for those with pass-through entities, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any steam in the Senate. You just should have heard the frustration in that room.”
“These are individuals that are farmers, they are cattle producers. They were so pleased the president had worked with China to remove the ban on U.S. beef. They were so pleased the House had taken action on the Lotus rule, and that the president had by executive order given them a little bit of a reprieve. They’re grateful for that relief, but they want permanency, and that requires that the Senate step up, that they agree that people voted for an agenda, and they agree that they are going to move forward on that agenda,” Blackburn urged.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern.
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