Personalities Diamond and Silk denied being paid by the Trump campaign on Thursday calling reports of a payment “fake news.”
At the House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, asked the Facebook personalities Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — known to their fans by their stage names Diamond and Silk — about a report from the Federal Election Commission showing they received a payment of $1,274.94 for “field consulting” from the Trump campaign.
After asking if they knew they were under oath, Mr. Jeffries asked if the Trump campaign was lying about the payment, or if the two women were claiming the report is false.
“Nobody is lying, however, there may have been a mistake from the Trump campaign when they wrote what the $1,274,94 was for,” explained Ms. Richardson.
She said that the payment was a reimbursement for plane tickets from New York to Ohio for a trip involving the campaign. She explained that they were asked in 2016 to be part of the “Women for Trump” group and flew in to discuss the opportunity. Ms. Richardson presented an email from Lara Trump saying that they would be repaid for their travel expenses.
The Facebook personalities claim that they have been censored by the social media company, and prevented from earning a profit off their extensive platform due to their support of President Trump and conservative views.
“People’s lives and livelihood has been damaged from what these giant techs do,” Ms. Hardaway said.
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Democrats made their displeasure known, saying the issue of censorship against conservatives had no basis, and that it was beneath the dignity of the committee to discuss.
“This is a stupid and ridiculous hearing,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, California Democrat.
Republicans on the committee say the issue is an important one that tech companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook need to address. All three companies were invited to participate in the hearing, but did not appear.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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