OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
On April 27, the Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the first Disinformation Governance Board. The board’s stated goal was to “coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security.” The Biden administration appointed Nina Jankowicz as the board’s executive director.
Jankowicz was scrutinized for her history of spreading misinformation, such as a story denying the existence of the Hunter Biden laptop.
After just a few weeks, the DHS shut down the board for a “pause”, and its head, Jankowicz, resigned. The former director then turned on the Biden administration, criticizing it for its actions and inactions.
Now there is a lawsuit alleging that the now disbanded “Disinformation Governance Board” covered up information about the Hunter Biden laptop story in the run-up to the 2020 Presidential election, the lab-leak theory of COVID’s genesis, the effectiveness of masks and lockdowns, and the integrity of the election.
Biden’s administration was ordered to provide a copy of communication documents between the federal government and large technology companies by a federal judge.
Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana obtained an order of discovery from U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty in the Western District of Louisiana.
President Joe Biden, members of his administration, and select social media companies must turn over documents and answer questions within the next 30 days during a discovery phase of a lawsuit alleging collusion to suppress freedom of speech, a court ruled.
The attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit in May alleging Biden and eight high-ranking members of his administration and the government colluded with and/or coerced social media companies Meta, Twitter, and YouTube to suppress “disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social medial platforms.”
On Tuesday, Terry Doughty, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, ruled there is “good cause” for the discovery process and set a timetable, including specific deadlines for depositions.
“In May, Missouri and Louisiana filed a landmark lawsuit against top-ranking Biden Administration officials for allegedly colluding with social media giants to suppress freedom of speech on a number of topics including the origins of COVID-19, the efficacy of masks, and election integrity,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt explained. “Today, the Court granted our motion for discovery, paving the way for my office to gather important documents to get to the bottom of that alleged collusion. This is a huge development.”
According to Conservative Brief “The lawsuit alleges that social media companies labeled information as “misinformation” and “disinformation” in violation of the First Amendment and that the federal government went beyond its authority and the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security violated the Administrative Procedure Act.”
“After the AGs filed a motion for expedited preliminary injunction-related discovery, the Biden administration filed an opposition. The Biden administration argued Louisiana and Missouri don’t have the authority to bring a parens Patria suit – an action to protect citizens unable to protect themselves – against the federal government,” the document states.
“The administration argued the states can’t meet an ‘injury in fact’ standard, defined as ‘it suffered ‘an invasion of a legally protected interest’ that is ‘concrete,’ ‘particularized,’ and ‘actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.’” The administration contended there wasn’t a link between alleged injuries to the states and the government’s alleged actions and argued the states can’t demonstrate how the court will provide justice for an alleged ‘injury in fact,’” the document adds.
Late in May, during its “pause,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appointed the co-author of the PATRIOT Act, one of the most draconian restrictions on civil liberties in the modern era, and a former official from President Bill Clinton’s administration to lead the Disinformation Governance Board.
In a statement, the department announced that former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and former U.S. Deputy Secretary-General Jamie Gorelick under Clinton “will lead a thorough review and assessment” of the DGB and stated that it was “grossly and intentionally mischaracterized.”
Jankowicz appeared on Brian Stelter’s CNN show “Reliable Sources” earlier this month.
She said the DGB was meant “to bring best practices to bear, and to make sure that we were up with the latest research, the latest trends, in disinformation and countering it and make sure that work was being done in a way that protected freedom of speech, protected civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy.”
Then Stelter asked her an easy question, “So, the sympathetic view, to you, is that the Disinformation Board was the victim of disinformation. Is that how you feel?”
“Oh, it absolutely was the victim of disinformation,” she answered. “So, all of these narratives, that the Disinformation Governance Board was going to be this ‘Ministry of Truth,’ and all of the harassment and disinformation that was directed against me, was based on that falsehood, based on that falsehood that was knowingly peddled by many people in the conservative media ecosystem and on Capitol Hill.”
Source: The Republic Brief