The White House refuted playing a role in the suspension of the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board on Wednesday, claiming that the board “never met” due to “mischaracterizations by outside parties,” Fox News informed.
Karine Jean-Pierre said that the board was never convened.
“Nina Jankowicz, and the board, do not have anything to do with the censorship or eliminating content from anywhere,” Jean-Pierre said, denying that the White House was involved in the process’ halt.
Jankowicz’s role on the board, according to Jean-Pierre, is to provide knowledge on how to battle disinformation, and the board’s objective was “never about censorship, police speech, or eliminating stuff from anywhere.”
According to the Washington Post, DHS decided to halt the board’s mission on Monday, and the board’s leader, Jankowicz, had a resignation letter written the next morning.
The Post said that Jankowicz’s decision to leave DHS is still up in the air, as the department has offered to let her stay on the board despite the agency stopping all the organizations that were focused on what the administration refers to as “mis-dis- and mal-information,” or “MDM.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is defending Jankowicz against right-wing attacks based on her past stances and social media posts, including casting doubt on the New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop before the election in 2020.
Jankowicz was subject to unjustified and mean personal attacks, as well as physical threats, according to a DHS spokesperson.
The secretary has constantly stood in defense of Jankowicz, deeming her as eminently qualified to do her job, and also highlighted the importance of this new disinformation board.
Attorneys general from 20 GOP-led states threatened to sue against DHS over the board earlier this month, alleging it is “un-American” and chilling to Americans’ right to free expression.
Earlier this month, the White House defended the DHS board, saying it would be “nonpartisan” and “apolitical.”
Be the first to comment