By Nick Koutsobinas From Newsmax

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk fired deputy general counsel James Baker, a former counsel to FBI director James Comey,  on Tuesday, following revelations that he was slow-walking the release of files regarding government collusion with the social media company to journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

“On Friday,” Taibbi wrote in a Tuesday thread, “the first installment of the Twitter files was published here. We expected to publish more over the weekend. Many wondered why there was a delay.”

“We can now tell you part of the reason why. On Tuesday, Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of ‘Twitter Files’ — without knowledge of new management.”

This revelation speaks in regard to the first batch of the leaks, where Taibbi focused on how top executives at the social media company were working surreptitiously, “without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey,” to suppress narratives regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story. Baker suggested that “caution is warranted” and that Twitter should censor New York Post‘s story.

“The process for producing the ‘Twitter Files,'” Taibbi continues, “involved delivery to two journalists (Bari Weiss and me) via a lawyer close to new management. However, after the initial batch, things became complicated.”

“Over the weekend, while we both dealt with obstacles to new searches, it was [Weiss] who discovered that the person in charge of releasing the files was someone named Jim. When she called to ask ‘Jim’s’ last name, the answer came back: ‘Jim Baker.'”

“My jaw hit the floor,” Weiss said.

In the preeminence of the 2016 presidential campaign, Baker fixed himself as a controversial figure. During that time, legal scholar Jonathan Turley writes, Baker was repeatedly featured “in the Russian investigations launched by the Justice Department, including the hoax involving the Russian Alfa Bank. When Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann wanted to plant the bizarre false claim of a secret communications channel between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, Baker was his go-to, speed-dial contact.”

Taibbi adds that “news that Baker was reviewing the ‘Twitter files’ surprised everyone involved, to say the least.” On Tuesday, Musk tweeted, that “in light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today.”

Taibbi adds that his and Weiss’s investigation into the files “resumed” Tuesday and that the second installment to the saga would be released under Weiss’s handle.

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