CNN’s Toobin torches Twitter on not taking down Trump tweets on Scarborough intern: ‘totally indefensible’

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Tuesday ripped Twitter over its decision to not take down tweets from President Trump that promote a conspiracy theory surrounding a woman who died while working at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough’s former congressional office in Florida.

The widower of the woman on Tuesday asked that the company remove the tweets. 

Toobin called Twitter’s position “totally indefensible” and its statement regarding the matter “corporate gibberish.”

“They have rules. Like Greyhound buses have rules. You can’t stay on a Greyhound bus if you break the rules,’” Toobin said. “President Trump has broken the rules of Twitter over and over again, and Twitter has done nothing but put out statements of corporate gibberish like the one it did today.

“Scarborough might have a lawsuit here. He’s a public figure and there’s a higher standard, but a knowing falsehood of murder would, I think, form the basis for a legitimate lawsuit,” Toobin added. 

“If Twitter had any decency, any corporate conscience, they would take it down automatically … It certainly is clear that accusing people falsely of murder is not something Twitter exists to propagate,” he added. “I just think Twitter’s position here is totally indefensible.”

Twitter said Tuesday it will not remove the Trump tweets.

“We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Hill in a statement.

“We’ve been working to expand existing product features and policies so we can more effectively address things like this going forward, and we hope to have those changes in place shortly.”

The widower of Lori Klausutis, the woman who worked in Scarborough’s office, had asked Twitter in writing to remove the posts. Lori Klausutis died in 2001 after an abnormal heart rhythm caused her to lose consciousness and hit her head on a desk in Scarborough’s congressional office in Florida. Her death was ruled an accident.

“My request is simple: Please delete these tweets,” Timothy Klausutis wrote.

“I’m a research engineer and not a lawyer, but reviewed all of Twitter’s rules and terms of service. The President’s tweet that suggests that Lori was murdered without evidence and contrary to the official autopsy is a violation of Twitter’s community rules and terms of service. An ordinary user like me would be banished from the platform for such a tweet but I am only asking that these tweets be removed.”

Trump has repeatedly raised the conspiracy theory, including on Tuesday morning.