House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has subpoenaed the former head of the Biden administration’s short-lived Disinformation Governance Board after she failed to appear voluntarily.
🚨BREAKING: @Weaponization Committee Chair @Jim_Jordan subpoenas Nina Jankowicz and compels her to appear for a deposition relating to Joe Biden’s failed “Disinformation Governance Board.” pic.twitter.com/Zf8uL5FlL1
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 6, 2023
Nina Jankowicz was the pro-censorship and pro-forced lockdown appointee to President Joe Biden’s 1984-esque “Ministry of Truth,” but her position did not last long. As conservatives called out the board for being reminiscent of the dystopian George Orwell novel, the Biden administration quickly backed off — scrapping the board just a few weeks after its creation.
Meanwhile, Jordan had scheduled Jankowicz to give a closed-door deposition on April 10. This testimony comes as a part of the Judiciary Committee’s probe into the weaponization of government against critics of the Biden regime.
Jordan has subpoenaed two other individuals alongside Jankowicz in connection with the weaponization investigation — both of whom are onetime National School Boards Association (NSBA) officials who pushed for a federal response to supposed threats against school boards in 2021. Critics have argued that the demand for federal action was targeted at conservatives and parents who were only challenging school districts’ policies and practices.
These two individuals — former NSBA Interim Executive Director and CEO Chip Slaven and former NSBA President Viola Garcia — were subpoenaed following their refusal to appear for voluntary testimony scheduled in January. They are both facing closed-door depositions later this month.
In a letter to Jankowicz accompanying her subpoena, Jordan noted: “As the former Executive Director of the Board, you are uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary to inform the Committee’s oversight and potential legislative reform.”
The Ohio Republican stated that the panel wants to see “how the Board intended to define disinformation, how it planned to collect information and from what sources, how it anticipated countering disinformation, and how it proposed to protect First Amendment rights,” according to Breitbart News.
The Biden administration established the “Disinformation Governance Board” in early 2022 under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas previously claimed that the board was designed to counter supposedly false claims about the Biden administration encouraging illegal aliens to enter the United States. He also said that the board was created as an attempt to hit back at Russian disinformation efforts.
“The spread of disinformation can affect border security, Americans’ safety during disasters, and public trust in our democratic institutions,” the DHS said at the time.
However, Jordan and other Republicans spoke out against the board — stating that it was anti-democratic and anti-American, and arguing that it was actually designed to target conservative Americans rather than foreign threats.
Tucker Carlson talks more about Nina Jankowicz "Ministry of Truth" with CEO of the Federalist Sean Davis. pic.twitter.com/x5OzdduXkY
— 3sidedstory 🇺🇲 (@3sidedstory) May 3, 2022
Jankowicz, who resigned in May 2022, has been called out by Republicans for her comments disparaging Americans’ First Amendment rights. In tweets, she expressed concern that free speech absolutists were “taking over more platforms” — noting that the thought of this made her “shudder.”
She also called for more law enforcement on speech, and for the Biden administration to forcibly implement pandemic lockdowns. Jankowicz previously tried to discredit the now-verified Hunter Biden laptop, claiming it was a “Trump campaign product.”
