Trump ally Stephen K. Bannon called for arresting Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over his social media company stepping up to stop the spread of some of the president’s posts on its platform Wednesday.
Mr. Bannon, President Trump’s former adviser, said he should direct Attorney General William P. Barr to have Mr. Dorsey taken into custody over Twitter restricting the election-related tweets.
Several of Mr. Trump’s posts on Twitter about Tuesday’s presidential election were flagged by the company, hidden behind warning labels or blocked from being shared, or retweeted, by other users.
Reacting on his “War Room: Pandemic” podcast, Mr. Bannon said the president should immediately call Mr. Barr and tell him to have U.S. marshals in San Francisco arrest Twitter’s chief executive.
“They’re taking down the president of the United States,” said Mr. Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News who served on Mr. Trump’s election campaign and then briefly his administration.
“I knew this moment was going to come. When some punk like Jack Dorsey is going to take down and suppress the free speech of the commander in chief,” Mr. Bannon continued.
A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on Mr. Bannon’s comment about calling for authorities to arrest the company’s CEO when reached by The Washington Times on Thursday.
Twitter took action Wednesday on a number of Mr. Trump’s tweets in which he posted on the platform about his race for reelection against Democratic challenger Joseph R. Biden.
Four of the tweets were hidden behind warning labels that said they included disputed content and “might be misleading about an election or other civic process” and blocked from being retweeted.
Twitter did not take down any of Mr. Trump’s tweets, however, and it is allowing users to share them with the warning labels in place as long as they are being quoted and not simply retweeted.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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