Jake Tapper Grills Facebook Exec Open to Restoring Trump’s Account: ‘His Lies Are Getting Worse’

During a discussion on Facebook’s decision to bar Donald Trump from the platform, Jake Tapper grilled Nick Clegg, the company’s vice president of global affairs and communications on the possibility of Trump’s account being restored. On Thursday, Facebook announced that Trump will remain suspended until at least January 2023. He was initially suspended on January 7, one day after he incited a mob that stormed the Capitol in a deadly insurrection.

Clegg, a former United Kingdom MP, joined Tapper later in the day for an interview.

Tapper began by pointing out that Facebook acknowledges Trump used its platform to incite violence. Given this, and the fact that Trump continues to spread lies, Tapper asked Clegg, “Why give him your platform at all?”

“Well that’s a legitimate question,” replied Clegg. He said the company is “applying the most severe penalty we have in the range of penalties now available to us under the new enforcement arrangements.”

Clegg added that if Trump is allowed back and repeats his past behavior that violates Facebook’s guidelines, the former president may be subject to a permanent ban. He said Facebook feels it “put the right guardrails in place.”

Tapper push backed, obviously less than impressed with Clegg’s explanation:

Today, just today, Donald Trump is telling election lies. Today. Not, you know, back in January. Today he’s doing it. So I guess my question is, isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? I mean, you know that when he returns, he’s going to use his platform to tell lies, lies that have provably incited violence. Not just violence, but an attack on the Capitol some considered an attack on democracy. What kind of clues are you looking for? I mean there’s no indication that he’s getting any better. His lies are getting worse. He thinks he’s going to be reinstated as president in August.

Clegg said it’s not Facebook’s role to vet, censor, or delete objectionable postings from Trump.

“No, of course not,” interjected Tapper. “But if he tells lies that incite violence and have proved to do that in the past, does that matter?”

“The key thing is incitement,” said Clegg, referencing the praise Trump heaped upon rioters during the insurrection. Clegg explained that it was Trump’s praise of the rioters, rather than his lies about the election, that triggered his suspension.

If Trump returns to Facebook in January 2023 as it appears he will be allowed to do, that will be around the time when Republicans begin announcing their candidacies for president.

Watch above via CNN.