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(Video: Fox News)
White House press secretary Jen Psaki pushed back against critics of the woman picked to head up the Disinformation Governance Board that many strongly suspect will be used as a weapon against conservatives, defending Nina Jankowicz as “an expert on online disinformation.”
During Friday’s daily press briefing, Biden’s top flack responded to questions from Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, defending Jankowicz’s qualifications to lead what many are referring to as an Orwellian “ministry of truth” while claiming that the Department of Homeland Security’s information policing unit was set up during the Trump administration.
After rattling off a list of her qualifications, Psaki said “any hiring decisions are up to the Department of Homeland Security but this is a person with extensive qualifications,” shielding her boss from responsibility for the appointment that has serious implications in terms of the future of political speech in America.
“What I will tell you about the board and what the board is doing, this is a continuation of work that began at the Department of Homeland Security in 2020, under former President Trump,” she said.
“For anyone who’s critical of it, I didn’t hear them being critical of the work under the former president, which is interesting to note contextually,” Psaki later added.
“This is work that is helping to address unauthorized terrorism, other threats, and see how disinformation, misinformation is being pushed, to lead, to increase those, so that’s all work that we think has been ongoing for some time,” Psaki said. “This is the form it’s taking and there’s a fact sheet that details the specifics.”
While Psaki would never come out and admit that Jankowicz will be tasked with propaganda and censorship on behalf of the regime, the timing of the announcement is curious given billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and his expression of an intent to restore free speech to the platform, a major blow to the Democrats and their ability to control the official narrative.
Other than Jankowicz’s history of partisan political statements, bizarre social media activity including a singing TikTok video by the “Mary Poppins of disinformation” and her idea that the online criticism of VP Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other female Democrats is a national security issue, the existence of the DHS’s Disinformation Governance Board and idea that an authoritarian leader like Biden is in charge of it drew a fierce reaction from many.
On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed to resist, once again butting heads with Biden whom he repeatedly defied on lockdowns and mask mandates.
“As if they don’t have enough issues to deal with, they now have an idea and I honestly thought this was just a belated April Fool’s joke, but they are actually going to create in the Department of Homeland Security a bureau of disinformation,” he said. “It’s basically a ‘Ministry of Truth,’ and what they want to do is, they want to be able to put out false narratives without people being able to speak out and fight back.”
The Biden Administration’s creation of a “disinformation” bureau within DHS is effectively a Ministry of Truth that is alien to our constitutional tradition.
Florida rejects Biden’s attempt to enforce regime-approved narratives and to stifle dissent. pic.twitter.com/fSnU2gk97x
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 29, 2022
“They want to be able to say things like, ‘Russia collusion’ and perpetuate hoaxes and then have people like us be silenced,” DeSantis added. “They want to be able to advocate for COVID lockdowns. They want to be able to advocate for school closures, things that are not supported by the evidence, but then, when you speak out, they want to stifle dissent.”
“We reject this bureau in the state of Florida,” he said.
Last year, Jankowicz drew attention to an article that she wrote for Wired claiming that criticism against Harris and other Democrat women was a threat to “democracy” and called for action from governments to clamp down on speech.
“For @WIRED, I wrote about the online gendered abuse I experienced, and the attacks we tracked against @KamalaHarris, @AOC, @IlhanMN, & more,” she wrote. “Platforms and governments aren’t doing enough. It’s time to act. Our national security and democracy are at stake.”
For @WIRED, I wrote about the online gendered abuse I experienced, and the attacks we tracked against @KamalaHarris, @AOC, @IlhanMN, & more.
Platforms and governments aren't doing enough. It's time to act. Our national security and democracy are at stake. https://t.co/RxEiPS78X3
— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) January 28, 2021
Psaki did not provide details to support her statement that Homeland Security’s “Ministry of Truth” was set up under Trump and major media outlets have reported on the entity as if it was just created.
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Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.
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