James Baker, the former top FBI lawyer who left to become Twitter’s deputy general counsel, was shot down by the company’s then-watchdog Yoel Roth when Baker suggested an exhortation from then-President Donald Trump urging Americans not to let COVID-19 “dominate” their lives should be censored.
As Trump, now 76, prepared to leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. on Oct. 5, 2020, after undergoing three days of treatment for the virus, he tweeted to his 86 million followers: “I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” the 45th president added.
That afternoon, Baker dashed off an email to Roth and another senior Twitter legal executive, Stacia Cardille, asking them: “Why isn’t this POTUS tweet a violation of our COVID-19 policy (especially the ‘Don’t be afraid of COVID’ statement)?” Roth explained that the tweet was “a broad, optimistic statement” that “doesn’t incite people to do something harmful, nor does it recommend against taking precautions or following mask directives (or other guidelines).