Ken Klippenstein, an independent journalist who publishes a newsletter on Substack, published on Thursday a document said to have been hacked by Iran, a Trump campaign research oppo file on JD Vance.
At least three major news outlets and two independent journalists previously received a document described as a JD Vance dossier but did not publish it, citing what they have described as a lack of newsworthy information in it. Organizations including Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post were among those recipients.
The dossier includes everything from Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities,” his past criticisms of Trump, and his criminal, police, voting and lobbying records.
From the Substack newsletter, Klippenstein explains why he published the document.
If the document had been hacked by some “anonymous” like hacker group, the news media would be all over it. I’m just not a believer of the news media as an arm of the government, doing its work combatting foreign influence. Nor should it be a gatekeeper of what the public should know.
Despite being a free speech absolutist, Elon Musk’s X immediately suspended Klippenstein’s account.
In 2020, MAGAts were mad because Twitter limited circulation of the Hunter Biden laptop story, but X claimed Klippenstein violated the platform’s Terms of Service by posting “unredacted private personal information” including “physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number.”