House Republicans sue FBI agent for bucking censorship investigation

The House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit against a longtime FBI agent on Tuesday for refusing to comply with a subpoena, accusing the agent of hindering the committee's investigation into social media censorship practices by declining to appear for a deposition.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., stated that California-based Assistant Special Agent in Charge Elvis Chan defied the subpoena at the direction of the Department of Justice, which disagreed with the committee's rules for depositions and interviews.

At the heart of the dispute is the demand from Chan and his employer that he be accompanied during his deposition with the committee by both his personal counsel and government counsel. The committee has long maintained that it allows one or the other to appear with witnesses, but not both.

The committee alleged in the suit that the DOJ’s position has "no legal merit," citing the "Constitution's clear command that each chamber of Congress 'may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.'"

The complaint seeks to force Chan to testify before the committee immediately.

Chan, the committee wrote, is a "pivotal figure" in its investigation into allegations that the federal government overstepped its authority by coercing social media companies, including Meta, X, and YouTube, to censor content that often suppressed right-leaning viewpoints.

"Chan described himself as 'one of the primary people with pass-through information,' information that the companies used when deciding whether to restrict online content," the committee wrote.

Chan was also deposed as a witness in Missouri v. Biden, a case in which two Republican state attorneys general alleged that the federal government violated the First Amendment when it pressured social media companies to censor speech, such as content related to COVID-19, Hunter Biden's laptop, and election-related matters. Chan participated in regular "industry meetings" with the companies as part of an effort to combat "malign foreign-influence activities," according to a memorandum in the case.

Chan "led a team of other FBI agents who regularly communicated with social media companies about 'disinformation,'" the committee wrote in its lawsuit.

A judge in the Missouri v. Biden case issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration last year, ordering it to halt certain communication with social media companies. The Supreme Court has since taken up the case, and that order is on pause while the high court reviews it.

The committee's lawsuit came as expected after it signaled last September in a lengthy social media post that negotiations with Chan, the DOJ, and the FBI had been unproductive and that communication among the various parties involved had grown tense.

The committee's position "was a significant departure from normal procedures and an unnecessary escalation of this Committee's treatment of FBI officials," according to an FBI statement at the time.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the FBI for comment on the lawsuit.

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