Journalist and COVID vaccine skeptic Alex Berenson has filed a lawsuit against President Biden, White House officials and Pfizer honchos accusing them of violating First Amendment rights by pushing for his removal from Twitter after he raised concerns about the shots.
The suit, filed last week in the Southern District of New York, named Biden, White House advisers Andrew Slavitt and Robert Flaherty, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Pfizer board member and ex-Trump FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla as defendants.
According to the filing, Biden allegedly conspired with the other defendants to banish Berenson from Twitter in August 2021 after he repeatedly posted messages dismissing the COVID vaccine and telling followers it didn’t stop transmission of the virus.
The filing alleged that the Biden administration "engaged in a nearly unprecedented conspiracy to suppress Mr. Berenson’s First Amendment rights" by working with Pfizer to suspend his Twitter account and "mute his voice as a leading COVID-19 vaccine skeptic."
"The White House and the Biden Administration did this at the same time government officials promoted their views on the necessity of COVID19 vaccination on Twitter, effectively blocking Mr. Berenson from commenting on their own statements or making his own," the court document alleged.
"The censorship harmed both Mr. Berenson and a clearly identifiable class of nearly 100 million Americans whose interests he helped represent— Americans who either had questions about the vaccine or did not want to be forced to take a shot that they feared had been rushed through development and lost its ability to prevent COVID-19 infections within months," the document continued.
"Only days after President Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, federal officials began to press Twitter to remove posts that raised questions about the safety of the mRNA shots. But their specific animus against Mr. Berenson went further. In a secret White House meeting in April 2021, the conspirators—led by Andrew Slavitt, Senior Advisor to the White House’s COVID-19 Response Coordinator—specifically targeted Mr. Berenson for removal," the suit alleged. "The conspirators did not simply ask Twitter to remove a specific post Mr. Berenson made. Rather they pushed Twitter to ban him entirely, an unconstitutional prior restraint on his speech."’
Berenson was not immediately suspended but efforts to silence him eventually picked up.
"In July 2021, the conspiracy to censor Mr. Berenson took on new urgency. The Biden Administration and Pfizer became aware the mRNA vaccines were losing their efficacy against infection far more quickly than they had expected, raising the likelihood that additional ‘booster’ shots and vaccine mandates would soon be required. The White House knew many Americans would dislike those measures, particularly mandates—which President Biden previously said would not be imposed," the filing alleged. "So the conspirators redoubled their efforts to force Twitter to censor Mr. Berenson."
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The filing claimed the White House in July 2021 "publicly demanded social media companies take aggressive action against COVID-19 vaccine skeptics."
"On July 16 President Biden himself said social media platforms, including Twitter, were ‘killing people’ by allowing users to publish COVID-19 vaccine skepticism. Within hours of President Biden’s comments, Twitter for the first time took public action against Mr. Berenson, locking him out of his account. In late July, Twitter suspended Mr. Berenson’s account twice more, putting him at risk of permanent suspension if he received one more ‘strike,’" the suit alleged, noting that Berenson’s tweets received millions of views per day, irking Biden officials in the process.
"Then Dr. Gottlieb stepped in. On August 24, he complained secretly to Twitter about Mr. Berenson," the suit said. "Finally, the conspirators forced Twitter’s hand. A few hours after Dr. Gottlieb’s complaint, Twitter banned Mr. Berenson permanently."
At the time of his suspension, Twitter chalked it up as punishment for "repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules."
Berenson previously noted Pfizer has made $70 billion selling often-mandated mRNA vaccines. He has also previously said Gottlieb, who is reportedly paid more than $300,000 per year to serve on its board, sent an email to Twitter questioning Berenson in a posting about Dr. Anthony Fauci's "arrogance." The filing claims that Gottlieb and Bourla had "financial incentives to silence" Berenson.
Twitter restored his account in July 2022 when Berenson took legal action. The company settled and admitted Berenson’s "tweets should not have led to suspension."
"But the damage has already been done—to Mr. Berenson and millions of Americans who shared his concerns about the vaccines," the suit alleged. "In September 2021, just days after Mr. Berenson lost his voice on Twitter, the Biden Administration imposed several workplace vaccine mandates… Banned from Twitter, Mr. Berenson was unable to report and comment on the mandate to his followers, and those to whom they would have forwarded his tweets."
Berenson is asking the court to "declare that the government Defendants’ viewpoint-based targeting of Mr. Berenson’s speech and journalism violated the First Amendment," "enjoin Defendants and other persons acting in coordination or concert with them from further violating Mr. Berenson’s First Amendment rights to free speech" and award him general, special and punitive damages, along with attorney’s fees and any other relief deemed necessary.
"The First Amendment prohibits governmental conspiracies like this. COVID-19 did not suspend the Constitution or the rights it enumerates for Americans," the 70-page suit stated.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Berenson had previously suggested the lawsuit was coming on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
