House Judiciary Committee Breaks Into 6-Way Yelling War Over Elon Musk

As Texas Democrat and committee member Rep. Sylvia Garcia demanded that journalist Matt Taibbi reveal Elon Musk as the reporter's original "direct source," the House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Twitter deteriorated into a violent, 6-way yelling war. Garcia posed the initial question, "When did Mr. Musk initially approach you about writing the Twitter Files?" Garcia interjected, "I only need a date, sir," as Taibbi started to respond. Taibbi replied, "But I can't give it to you, sadly, because this is a question of sourcing and I don't give up, I'm a journalist. My sources remain confidential. In the end, Garcia asked, "So you're not going to tell us when Musk first approached you?" after they argued over whether the issue was one of "chronology" or "sourcing." Well, Congresswoman, you're asking me to re- You're asking a journalist to expose a source-," Taibbi began responding. "So then you regard Mr. Musk to be the direct source of all of this," Garcia chimed in. "Well, now you're - you're trying to get me to claim that he is the source," Taibbi countered. It's either true or false, Garcia said. She then made the dubious claim that because Elon Musk wasn't explicitly named as the author, With Taibbi's admission that Elon Musk was the source, the debate got serious.