James Baker's name has once again popped up, but this time it's about Hunter Biden and the laptop.
Baker was the Twitter Deputy General Counsel, who did not allow the Hunter Biden laptop story to gain momentum until they had more information on its veracity. He had also played a role in covering up Hillary Clinton's Russia lies.
Baker's names is prominent in controversies related to other Russian-related FBI allegations against former US president Donald Trump. The former FBI lawyer had said he had to speak out because of growing scrutiny of how the investigation started and the internal review that followed.
James Baker – Former Federal Prosecutor
James Baker has worked with several national security investigation and prosecutions, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He served as the Counsel for Intelligence Policy at the Justice Department from 2001 to 2007. Baker was also the head of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review in the state's Harvard Law School.
The former federal prosecutor was honoured with a George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in counter-terrorism. He was given the Intelligence Under Law Award by NSA and NSA Director's Distinguished Service Medal.
Baker joined Twitter in 2020 as Deputy General Counsel. He is said to have played a significant role in censoring Hunter Biden laptop story because Joe Biden was the presidential candidate.
Supported Censorship
During the presidential campaign, the Bidens were attacked left, right and centre with all sorts of allegations, including influence peddling, corruption and nepotism. And then the Hunter's laptop came up. The Biden team and Democratic operatives reportedly requested Twitter to block the story. But Twitter insiders raised concerns about the platform serving as a censor for the Biden campaign.
Baker supported the censorship. He said it's reasonable to assume that they may have been hacked and that caution is warranted. But there was never any evidence that the device was hacked and there was no evidence of Russian involvement either in the laptop. As such, US intelligence quickly brushed off the Russian disinformation claim. However, Baker maintained that there was a reasonable assumption that Russians were behind another major scandal.