James Baker, the former FBI general counsel known for advocating Twitter’s suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, is now part of a left-leaning election influence group. Baker, who played a significant role in advancing the FBI’s investigation into former President Donald Trump during the “Russiagate” controversy, is currently a member of the National Task Force on Election Crises. This task force is an initiative under the Protect Democracy Project, a group formed to counter Trump’s policies, according to InfluenceWatch.
The task force promotes early and mail-in voting, claims to defend against cyber and other attacks by foreign or domestic actors, supports the pre-canvassing of absentee ballots, discourages legal election challenges, and advocates for censoring certain online discussions about elections. Baker’s expertise within the group includes legal and legislative issues, political violence and intimidation, foreign and cyber interference, and election subversion.
Baker’s background includes a controversial tenure as the FBI’s top lawyer, where he received information from Michael Sussmann, who was later revealed to be working for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Sussmann provided Baker with allegations of ties between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, a Russian entity. Despite the claims being false, Baker facilitated the investigation into Trump and relayed Sussmann’s false statements to Congress in 2018 without apparent concern for their veracity. His involvement in the FBI’s actions against Trump provides him with firsthand experience in handling issues related to political violence and foreign interference.
Baker also pushed for the suppression of the New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden’s laptop while serving as deputy general counsel at Twitter (now X). In October 2020, he recommended restricting access to the article under the company’s Hacked Materials policy. This decision, and his involvement in the broader censorship effort, led to his dismissal by Elon Musk in 2022, who cited concerns over Baker’s role in suppressing crucial information from the public discourse.
The National Task Force on Election Crises, where Baker now serves, aims to hold accountable those pursuing what it deems bad-faith legal challenges and to maintain accountability for criminal acts related to the January 6th events. The group also focuses on mitigating election-related disinformation, often by removing or downplaying content rather than labeling it.
The group’s members include notable figures like Tiana Epps-Johnson, founder of the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), and David Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR). Both CTCL and CEIR managed significant funds from Mark Zuckerberg, which were directed towards local election offices in 2020 to boost Democratic voter turnout. Amber McReynolds, a USPS governor and former CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, and Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser at the Democracy Fund, are also members.
Given Baker’s history of controversial actions and the political connections of the task force’s members, his role raises significant concerns about potential future influence and actions against political opponents.
