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FIRST ON FOX: A Republican senator is pressing the Senate Homeland Security committee to issue subpoenas for Google’s CEO and software engineers to force them to respond to questions about the search engine’s results during and after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in July.
“I am asking the Committee to demand the presence of Google’s CEO, Mr. Sundar Pichai, as well as any relevant software engineering employees, to answer questions regarding Google’s search algorithm, and the processes that the company uses to affect the visibility, ranking, and visual presentation of election/political content in U.S. based search results, news feeds, and on YouTube,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., penned in a letter to Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Ranking Member Rand Paul, R-Ky.
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Sen. Marshall demanded Google’s top executives to testify under oath before the Senate’s Homeland Security committee. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
Marshall sits on the HSAGC’s permanent subcommittee on investigations.
In July, when users sought to search for information about the July 13 attempted assassination on Trump, Google’s autocomplete search feature did not recognize the topic.
Instead of suggesting the attempted assassination of Trump, the feature offered users autocomplete options for the failed assassination of former President Ronald Reagan, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (whose death sparked World War I), the shooting of Bob Marley and the failed assassination attempt on former President Gerald Ford.
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The function still failed to provide autocomplete suggestions regarding the attempt on Trump’s life as late as July 28, when Marshall first made a public inquiry into Google.
During an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, a gunman opened fire, shooting Trump in the ear, killing one person and critically injuring two others. After Trump was shot, with blood seen on his face, the Secret Service pulled him offstage.
“As one of the dominant search aggregators, Google exercises tremendous influence over the public’s access to knowledge, controlling approximately 80 to 90 percent of the total search engine market share globally,” Marshall wrote.
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In July, when users sought to search for information about the July 13 attempted assassination on Trump, Google’s autocomplete search feature did not recognize the topic. (Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Furthermore, given their advanced technological capabilities, there was no justifiable reason for Google to refrain from updating their algorithms to anticipate increased queries in response to the most recent and relevant assassination attempt in U.S. history,” he said.
According to the senator, “Google got caught playing politics instead of actively working to recommend the most updated and factual results.”
Marshall said he is concerned that Google, left unchecked, will inject bias in its search suggestions “against President Trump and other conservatives.”
He further noted the importance of investigating this issue with Google ahead of the 2024 election.
Former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Republican first launched his investigation into Google in late July, sending the company a letter demanding answers about the search function’s lack of Trump assassination attempt-related results.
In its response, Google told Marshall that the search function’s results were due to a company policy to prevent search results for “hypothetical political violence against current figures.”
According to Google, the systems have since been updated and the previous “out-of-date systems led to an inadequate user experience.”
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At the time, Marshall made it clear he was not buying this answer. “Google is now openly admitting that they were blocking and eliminating search prompts regarding the assassination attempt on President Trump,” he responded to their letter in a statement. “Most shocking is their bizarre written defense that Trump’s assassination attempt was a ‘hypothetical act of political violence’ even up to the point of our public inquiry on July 28th.”
Google, Peters and Paul did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.