Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for Sen. Mark Kelly.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Monday that Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona asked about censorship tools that could be used to prevent bank runs following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Kelly reportedly made the request to representatives of the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Reserve during a Sunday conference call discussing the Friday collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to Public, an outlet founded by journalists Michael Shellenberger and Leighton Woodhouse, who cited multiple Republican representatives, including Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Dan Bishop of North Carolina and Massie.
“There was a senator, I believe it was Mark Kelly, who asked if we had a good program to censor this stuff at social media, to censor information so there wouldn’t be a run on the banks,” Massie told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “The problem is he didn’t say he wanted to censor false information or foreign information, he kind of left it open-ended. And I mean, that’s chilling to me.” (RELATED: Biden Admin Shot Down Purchase Attempts For Failed Bank, Former Trump Official Says)
A spokesperson for Sen. Kelly denied the reports.
WATCH:
“The unsupported claim made by this blog post you referenced is false,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “On the briefing, Senator Kelly asked about *foreign adversaries* potentially trying to take advantage of this situation by spreading misinformation.”
Federal regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank Friday after its stock price collapsed and customers began a bank run following the financial institution’s disclosure of a $1.8 billion loss on asset sales due to high interest rates, CNBC reported.
Depositors who had accounts at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which was shut down by regulators Sunday, will be able to fully recover their funds, the FDIC announced in conjunction with the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Sunday.
“That’s their go-to now for the Democrats,” Massie said. “Let’s censor our way to the solution.”
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