Answering questions about the "Disinformation Governance Board" which he announced earlier in the week during a Senate hearing, Mayorkas said that the agency won't actually be policing 'online' falsehoods.
CNN anchor Dana Bash pressed ... Mayorkas on the [board], asking whether he could guarantee that it wouldn’t result in an arm of the federal government monitoring the speech of everyday American citizens.
During a Sunday morning interview on “State of the Union,” Bash also asked whether Mayorkas would have trouble accepting a similar board created under a President Donald Trump — or the current board falling under Trump’s control if he were to be reelected as president in 2024.
CNN finally covers Biden’s Ministry of Truth, asks @AliMayorkas “what exactly will this disinformation board do?”
Mayorkas: "The fact is that disinformation that creates a threat to the security of the homeland is our responsibility to address." pic.twitter.com/HMRlM7b3oj
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 1, 2022
Mayorkas: Ministry of Truth won’t “monitor American citizens … the board does not have any operational capability. What it'll do is gather together best practices … & disseminate those best practices to the operators that have been executing & addressing this threat for years” pic.twitter.com/VbHF6Wek2Y
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 1, 2022
“Republicans are calling it ‘Orwellian’ and comparing it to the Ministry of Truth in the novel ‘1984,’” Bash said of the board. “Can you clarify what exactly is this? What exactly will this disinformation governance board do? Will it monitor American citizens?”
“Dana, I’m very pleased to do so. It’s clear, I mean, those criticisms are precisely the opposite of what this small working group within the Department of Homeland Security will do,” Mayorkas responded. “And I think we probably could have done a better job of communicating what it does and does not do. The fact is that disinformation that creates a threat to the security of the homeland is our responsibility to address. And this department has been addressing it for years.”
He also claimed that the board would be focused solely on disinfo coming from potential enemies including Iran, Russia and China.
“We know the problems but it’s not clear to me how this governance board will act. What will it do?” Bash pressed further.
“So, what it does, it works to ensure that the way in which we address threats, the connectivity between threats and acts of violence are addressed without infringing on free speech,” Mayorkas said, noting that the board would not have “operational authority” to act but would work to provide information to those who did.
“Will American citizens be monitored?” Bash directly asked.
“No,” Mayorkas claimed.
“Guarantee that?” Bash pressed even harder. “So what we do, we in the Department of Homeland Security don’t monitor American citizens,” Mayorkas continued to object.
“You don’t, but will this change that?” Bash continued to press.
“No, no, the board does not have any operational capability,” Mayorkas repeated.
Now, enter Nina Jankowicz, the person selected to run this board. She has said in the very recent past that criticizing certain women of color including Vice President Kamala Harris and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is a national security threat.
"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," she noted on Twitter a week after Harris was inaugurated along with Joe Biden in January 2021.
Not white women and not Republicans; just Democratic women of color.
In September 2021, Jankowicz testified about “gender misinformation” being a threat to democracy in the British House of Parliament.
“It is not just a democratic concern; it is a national security concern, which should make it of interest to everybody in government,” she said. “It is not just about hurt feelings. It really affects the way our countries operate.”
And for the record, she thought Hunter Biden's laptop details were 'Russian disinformation.'
Now we ask you: Given what Mayorkas told CNN, does this woman really sound like she would take a government position monitoring "disinformation" that did not have any power or authority?
Hardly.
She is being brought in to literally police conservative content and speech with an eye toward punishing and silencing political opposition.
The battle for the soul of our country has begun, in case you weren't aware.
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