An independent journalist was suspended from X on Thursday after sharing documents about Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance that were allegedly obtained through the Iranians’ hack on the Trump campaign.
On his Substack, Ken Klippenstein published a 271-page vetting report on Vance, arguing the material is “of keen public interest in an election season.”
“[S]ince June, the news media has been sitting on it (and other documents), declining to publish in fear of finding itself at odds with the government’s campaign against ‘foreign malign influence,’” he wrote.
Last month, the Trump campaign confirmed it had been hacked, with Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung noting the documents were “obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States.”
Intelligence agencies later confirmed Iran was behind the attack and was seeking to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.”
The documents had been sent to media outlets at the time but they were not published.
“I’m just not a believer of the news media as an arm of the government, doing its work combatting foreign influence,” Klippenstein said. “Nor should it be a gatekeeper of what the public should know.”
A spokesperson for X told The Hill the independent journalist was suspended for publishing “unredacted private personal information” in violation of the social media platform’s rules.
This is one of the most egregious, evil doxxing actions we’ve ever seen.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024
Presidential candidates are not speculatively in danger – there have already been two attempts on @realDonaldTrump’s life.
Moreover, the doxxing included detailed information on the addresses of their…