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Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, on Wednesday grilled Gigi Sohn, one of President Biden’s nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), regarding her alleged bias and conflict of interests.
“I don’t know where to begin,” Sullivan said, adding that he was “very disturbed” by some of Sohn’s tweets and retweets. “We’re not nominating you for any normal assistant secretary. You’re going to be an FCC commissioner — enormous power, particularly as it relates to free speech, particularly as it actually relates to liberty in our country.”
BIDEN FCC NOMINEE’S REPUTATION AS HARD LEFT PARTISAN ALARMS REPUBLICANS
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, leaves the floor of the Senate on August 8, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum)
“I don’t see how you can be unbiased,” Sullivan went on, pinpointing how Sohn described Fox News as “state-sponsored propaganda.”
Sullivan also brought up how Sohn retweeted a tweet regarding former President Trump that said: “Your raggedy white supremacist president and his cowardly enablers would rather kill everybody than stop killing black people.”
“Damn, that’s way out,” said Sullivan. “I mean, do you think most Republicans are racists and white supremacists?”
Sohn said she “absolutely” does not think most Republicans are racist and that she was “not familiar” with the relevant tweet.
Gigi Sohn testifies before the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill March 12, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla)
“I think the average American, whether you’re Republican or Democrat is tired of this,” Sullivan said. “The number of Biden nominees who come out here and have tweeted about Republicans being white supremacists and racists, it seems like that’s how you get nominated in this administration. People are just tired of it.”
Gigi Sohn speaks during a House communications and technology subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
Republicans have raised concern that Sohn, who previously led a liberal group called Public Knowledge, could weaponize the FCC for political purposes. Sullivan also touched on whether Sohn, who recused herself regarding issues related to her time at a nonprofit called Locast, should also recuse herself regarding the 1,100 public filings Public Knowledge made while she was president of the organization.
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“The 1,100 different public filings by Public Knowledge all go to the heart of matters that you’re going to be empowered to rule on,” said Sullivan, later adding, “I think you should be recused on the 1,100 public filings, and if that’s the case, you might as well not even be confirmed, because you weighed in on almost everything.”
Fox News’ Peter Hasson and Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this article.
