Tech CEOs testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. They were grilled by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) about their relationship with the Chinese government and their support for Beijing's anti-American policies.
00:02:21.040And frankly, I think that we've distinguished ourselves as one of the companies that defends free expression the most.
00:02:28.500The staff warned the Senate Armed Forces Committee that the Chinese military was directly benefiting from Google's work.
00:02:36.420It made me wonder what values Google and Communist Red China had in common.
00:02:42.000I asked myself, self, is it that the Chinese Communist Party imprisons Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps?
00:02:49.600Like it is shown on the chart behind me.
00:02:55.340Could it be that China forces slaves to work in sweatshops?
00:02:59.200Maybe they align on the design to suppress free speech in Hong Kong.
00:03:03.600Did Google agree with CCP's decision to lie to the world about the COVID-19 pandemic?
00:03:09.060The power these companies have to impact what happens during an election, what people, what American citizens get to see prior to their voting is pretty darn important.
00:03:20.280That's why this committee hearing is important.
00:03:21.860Look, we all think the free market's great.
00:03:43.480Mr. Zuckerberg, in his written testimony, made the claim that Facebook is an American company with American values.
00:03:50.540Do any of the rest of you take a different view?
00:03:52.980That is to say that your companies don't embrace American values.
00:03:57.580It's great to see that none of you do.
00:03:59.460Mr. Pichai, I'm worried about Google's market power, how it concentrates that power, and then ultimately how it wields it.
00:04:07.440Project Maven was a collaboration between Google and the Department of Defense that Google pulled out of, citing ethical concerns.
00:04:15.880And you made the decision to pull out of that joint venture following receipt of a letter from thousands of your employees saying that Google should not be in the business of war.
00:04:24.480My question, Mr. Pichai, is did you weigh the input from your employees when making the decision to abandon that project with the United States military?
00:04:58.280That's a sufficient answer that you did take their feedback into account.
00:05:02.760In fact, some of your Googlers have recently sent you a letter where they've asked you to exit other partnerships as a consequence of ethical concerns.
00:05:10.800They've asked you to stop doing business with American law enforcement saying that police broadly uphold white supremacy and that Google should not be engaged in any services to police.
00:05:23.660And as you well know, you provide some of the most basic services to police, like email, but you also provide services that help keep our cops safe when they're doing their job.
00:05:33.680And so my question is here in front of Congress and the American people, will you take the pledge that Google will not adopt the bigoted anti-police policy that is requested in the most recent letter?
00:05:45.400Congressman, we have a long track record of working with law enforcement when it is supported by due process and the law.
00:05:57.080We push back against overbroad requests.
00:05:59.720We are transparent about the requests we get, but we have a long history of following the law and cooperating with law enforcement.
00:06:09.660To the law enforcement that are watching today, can they rest assured that under your leadership, Google will not adopt these bigoted anti-police policies?
00:06:19.960Congressman, we are committed to continuing to work with law enforcement in a way that's consistent with law and due processes in the U.S.
00:06:28.220Well, I greatly appreciate that, and I know that will be very comforting to the police who utilize your services.
00:06:34.220You mentioned earlier in the discussion about China that your engagement in China was very limited, but yet Google has an AI China Center.
00:06:45.320The Chinese Academy of Sciences has published a paper that enhanced the targeting capabilities of China's J-20 fighter aircraft.
00:06:55.180You collaborate with Chinese universities that take millions upon millions of dollars from the Chinese military.
00:07:01.200Matter of fact, one of your Googlers, Fifi Lee, while under your employ, was cited in Chinese state media saying,
00:07:40.260So why would an American company with American values so directly aid the Chinese military but have ethical concerns about working alongside the U.S. military on Project Maven?
00:07:54.520And I understand your point about cybersecurity and those things, but Project Maven was a specific way to ensure that our troops are safe on the battlefield.
00:08:02.880And if you have no problem making the J-20 Chinese fighter more effective in its targeting, why wouldn't you want to make America as effective?
00:08:13.420Congressman, with respect, we are not working with the Chinese military.
00:09:01.760Apparently, according to the mayor, the post-millennial has the story from Sam Edwards.
00:09:08.240Witless Portland mayor tries to call a ceasefire with America.
00:09:12.280And look, the situation in Portland is bad.
00:09:15.180We heard from the attorney general in the Judiciary Committee yesterday regarding the extent of the violence,
00:09:21.900the depravity, the consistency of the attacks on federal property.
00:09:26.400And the mayor apparently wants a ceasefire.
00:09:29.920I think this was the same mayor that said that he didn't want President Trump to send federal assets in to protect our federal property.
00:09:39.100Well, that's not how it works, Mr. Mayor.
00:09:41.500And another thing, for everyone out there who's been saying, oh, these are peaceful protests.
00:09:46.680You don't need a ceasefire with peaceful protests.
00:09:50.660So pretty crazy stuff going on in Portland.
00:09:53.880If a ceasefire is necessary, that probably means that the endeavor that the opponent was engaged in was not entirely peaceful.
00:10:03.980So we hope that there's peace in Portland.
00:10:06.500I doubt the mayor will be the one to bring it.
00:10:11.500Okay, Boomer, we're going to socialize you.
00:10:15.120That's what Andres Kuth writes for Bloomberg Opinion.
00:10:19.380And this is an important piece, not so much in that I agree with the call to action for millennials and Gen Z to socialize our economy and our country,
00:10:30.660but because it really is a warning regarding some of the dynamics that young people feel.
00:10:36.180The piece goes all the way back to the 2008 financial crisis.
00:10:40.300I remember being a young lawyer at that time, getting out, being in the job market,
00:10:44.900and a lot of different young people felt the wage scars of a contracting economy that we had in 2008.
00:10:53.540And even beyond, as wages were not rising, as capital investment was leaving as a consequence of Obama-era policies,
00:11:02.460there were real negative consequences for young people in the job market.
00:11:06.020And that's meant fewer have gotten married, had children, saved money, made down payments.
00:11:11.920And the argument that's being made in this Bloomberg piece is that young people see boomers as consumers and themselves as the producers.
00:11:23.240And for the system to be more equitable, in the opinion of this particular piece,
00:11:29.700they want health care to be universal, income to be universal, pensions to be reformed, and taxes to be simplified.
00:11:37.380So if we do not, as conservatives, seize on the elements of these inequities to, in fact, simplify the tax code,
00:11:46.620to, in fact, create opportunity for not just millennials, who are oftentimes in their mid-30s now,
00:11:53.020but for this Gen Z, that we could see greater calls for the type of socialism offered by Bernie and even Andrew Yang.
00:12:00.980And so it's my hope that we could continue to make the case for opportunity and prosperity and markets.
00:12:08.300But with all of the challenges that millennials and Zoomers have gone through,
00:12:14.200you are starting to see the call for socialism become more explicit, more frequent, and thus more dangerous.
00:12:22.200And that's why we have to confront those dangerous ideas with, I think, a great deal of patriotism
00:12:29.660and reflection on why America is great, because we produce things, because we incentivize innovation,
00:12:37.000because if you work hard, you can see rising wages and more opportunity.
00:12:41.780That's precisely the renewed America we saw before the coronavirus, and I can't wait to get back to it.
00:12:47.720A lot has been made of Bill Barr's testimony before the Judiciary Committee,
00:12:55.860and I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on one element of my questioning to him,
00:13:00.480and that's the risk that this Antifa-inspired violence, that this anarchy will spread beyond just these totally leftist cities on the West Coast,
00:13:11.960but into middle America, into places like my district, if they were to organize and to cause harm to federal property or to people in federal buildings.
00:13:21.980Here's what the attorney general said about the risk of spreading violence.
00:13:26.420We are concerned about this problem metastasizing around the country, and so we feel that we have to,
00:13:35.340in a place like Portland, even where we don't have the support of the state, the local government,
00:13:41.800we have to take a stand and defend this federal property.
00:13:45.840We can't get to a level where we're going to accept these kinds of violent attacks on federal courts.
00:13:51.260And if you did what my Democrat colleagues were asking, if you merely abandoned that federal property,
00:13:57.560allowed it to be overrun, allowed the people inside to be harmed,
00:14:01.180is it your view then that Antifa and other violent people engaged in these acts would simply stop,
00:14:07.660would simply accept that as their sole victory, or is it your expert opinion,
00:14:11.800having dealt with a number of law enforcement and criminal cases in your legal career,
00:14:15.880that they wouldn't stop, that they would go to the next town, to the next community,
00:14:19.940and potentially inspire more violence?
00:14:21.780There's no doubt in my mind that it would spread.
00:14:24.940And what comfort can you give Americans in my district and around the country
00:14:29.540that you will stop this, that you will stop the burning and destruction of federal property,
00:14:34.800and that you will give confidence to regular Americans that they can go out in the streets