Far-right activist interrupts Twitter hearing

Far-right internet figure Laura Loomer on Wednesday interrupted the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s hearing on alleged anti-conservative bias. 

Loomer stood up during Wednesday afternoon’s hearing and began yelling, “You are a liar Jack Dorsey,” accusing the Twitter CEO of having been caught on tape exhibiting bias against conservatives. 

As a protester interrupts hearing with @Twitter CEO @Jack Dorsey, Rep. Billy Long (@USRepLong @auctnr1), a former auctioneer, takes action.

Watch full hearing with here: https://t.co/Gh099bDc9w pic.twitter.com/e4bRzvtBe1

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 5, 2018

It’s unclear to what video Loomer was pointing.

{mosads}In one recording, far-right internet figure James O’Keefe published a video of a Twitter contract employee describing how the company stifles abusive users. O’Keefe, who founded Project Veritas, a conservative group known for selectively editing video and performing undercover operations, cited the video as an example of Twitter’s bias against conservatives. Loomer once worked for Project Veritas.

Loomer’s protest was drowned out by lawmakers’ laughter and Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), who mocked an auctioneer’s voice in response to Loomer before she was removed by security. 

Loomer spoke to Capitol Police officers outside the hearing room before she and some officers briefly left the building. She later re-entered, but said she had no plans to go back into the hearing.

The far-right figure yelled outside the hearing room that Dorsey was “committing perjury” and claimed his site was discriminating against conservatives.

Dorsey faced a grilling from Capitol Hill lawmakers on Wednesday in a hearing covering alleged anti-conservative tech bias and foreign governments manipulating social media platforms to influence U.S. politics. Top executives from Facebook faced a separate, similar hearing the same day.

Loomer, a self-proclaimed investigative journalist, has interrupted other events in the past, including a book signing earlier this year by former FBI Director James Comey.