Twitter CEO Elon Musk sacked deputy general counsel James Baker over concerns about his role in information suppression under the previous management. Musk tweeted about firing Baker while responding to journalist Matt Taibbi's post on a supplemental note to his original "Twitter Files" thread in which he accused Baker of allegedly vetting the information before it was passed along without informing Twitter's new management.
"In light of concerns about (James) Baker's possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today," Musk wrote on Tuesday.
When asked if Baker, a former FBI general counsel, was given a chance to explain himself before the firing, Musk wrote: “Yes. His explanation was . . . unconvincing.”
The published files alleged that the previous Twitter management took steps to suppress reporting regarding Hunter Biden's laptop ahead of the 2020 US Presidential Election.
According to the Twitter Files, Twitter deputy general counsel Baker played a role in the discussion about whether the laptop story fell under Twitter's "hacked materials" policy.
"I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked," the documents published by Taibbi cited Baker as saying in one of the emails. "At this stage, however, it's reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted."
The latest firing comes after Musk fired higher management, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett.