Chris Cuomo confronts GOP lawmaker over Diamond and Silk’s claims of censorship

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo sparred with a GOP lawmaker on Friday over a House hearing with YouTube personalities Diamond and Silk who claim they were censored by social media outlets.

In an interview with Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Cuomo asked whether King and other lawmakers had “wasted” taxpayer dollars on the hearing.

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“There are a whole number of reasons why that wasn’t a waste of money, one of them is everybody in there was paid on staff. If we could have been doing something more important, perhaps you could make that argument,” King said.

“There’s nothing more important than talking to Diamond and Silk about what didn’t happen to them on Facebook?” Cuomo asked.

The two pro-Trump personalities allege that a number of social media platforms, including Facebook, censored their content using algorithms to prevent it from showing up on users’ feeds. They have provided no evidence for they claim, which Facebook and other companies deny.

In addition, the two were found to have erroneously claimed that Facebook did not contact them over their concerns, despite an investigation showing that Facebook reps attempted to reach out to the two over email.

In the interview, King said he had received data from The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft proving the two were censored.

Hoft is a known conspiracy peddler, and in 2017 he was sued for defamation alongside white supremacist Paul Nehlen for falsely naming the suspect in the Charlottesville car attack that killed a protester and wounded others.

“The conspiracy-advancing blogger, The Gateway Pundit. That’s who you want to rely on as your source?” Cuomo asked.

“I would never describe Jim Hoft that way,” King replied.

“Then you would be describing him inaccurately,” Cuomo fired back.

Democrats condemned their Republican colleagues during the hearing, chastising the GOP for wasting lawmakers’ time over an issue with no proof of wrongdoing.

“This is a stupid and ridiculous hearing,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said during the proceedings.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, the two thanked Republicans for the hearing and likened Democrats to slave owners.

“We are very thankful to the white Republicans that allowed us a seat at the table to speak our truth about what’s going on, unlike the black men. And the reason why I say that is because we have been on the Democrat plantation,” said Rochelle Richardson, also known as Silk.