The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly “paused” it’s new Disinformation Governance Board, and its director, Nina Jankowicz, has apparently resigned amid a major pushback from conservatives who compared the board to an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth.”
According to the Washington Post, “working groups within DHS focusing on ‘mis-, dis- and mal-information have been suspended.”
The board was reportedly shut down on Monday, and Jankowicz submitted “a resignation letter in response to the board’s dissolution” Tuesday morning. However, DHS officials reportedly had an urgent call with her Tuesday night, and gave her the option of staying onboard, even if her work was put on hold due to the backlash.
“The board could still be shut down pending a review from the Homeland Security Advisory Council,” WaPo “technology expert” (and crybully) Taylor Lorenz reported.
According to the initial report, Jankowicz was in the process of evaluating her position within the department following the phone call. A later version of the report revealed, “on Wednesday morning, Jankowicz officially resigned from her role within the department.”
Late last month, HS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that DHS had created the new board, led by Jankowicz, to counter what it called “misinformation and disinformation” threatening the homeland.
Conservative online sleuths were quickly able to unearth the new “Disinfo Czar’s” past comments and social media activity, exposing her as a major purveyor of disinformation herself.
Lorenz lamented that the board had suffered “a disastrous rollout,” and blamed Human Events reporter Jack Posobiec” for exposing the effort.
Just hours after Jankowicz tweeted about her new job, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec posted tweets accusing the Biden administration of creating a “Ministry of Truth.” Posobiec’s 1.7 million followers quickly sprung into action. By the end of the day, there were at least 53,235 posts on Twitter mentioning “Disinformation Governance Board,” many referencing Jankowicz by name, according to a report by Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that conducts public-interest research. In the days following, that number skyrocketed.
Posobiec responded to Lorenz on Twitter by saying “I’m not going anywhere.”
Was just walking around the Vatican Museums to find out @TaylorLorenz dropped a ‘hit piece’ on me for exposing the Nina Jankowicz Disinfo Board
Here is my response:
I’m not going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/xNlgHpqXEQ
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 18, 2022
DHS ordered Jankowicz to stop responding to the criticism on social media, according to the report.
As she endured the attacks, Jankowicz herself was told to stay silent. After attempting to defend herself on Twitter April 27, she was told by DHS officials to not issue any further public statements, according to multiple people close to her.
According to Lorenz, the 33-year-old Jankowicz “was thrust into the spotlight by the very forces she dedicated her career to combating,” and has been “subject to an unrelenting barrage of harassment and abuse.”
Indeed, the self-proclaimed “disinformation expert” did come under heavy criticism after she was discovered to be a profligate peddler of disinformation herself.
Jankowicz in the past enthusiastically spread Russia collusion conspiracy theories, and called Hunter Biden’s laptop a “product of the Trump campaign.”
Ahead of the 2020 election, she regurgitated onto Twitter Biden’s talking point that “50 national security officials, and 5 former CIA heads” said in a letter that they believed the Hunter Biden laptop story was “a Russian influence op.” The letter was, of course, part of a Democrat influence op designed to discredit a very real and damaging story that was threatening Biden’s campaign.
“You really can’t make any of this up, it’s too grotesque,” said Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on April 27. “Would you believe a novel with this plot? No you wouldn’t. But it’s happening,” Carlson said. “That’s the bad news. The good news is everyone involved in Joe Biden’s Ministry of Information is a buffoon. They may be evil, but they’re also ridiculous. Nina Jankowicz is the most ridiculous of all.”
As outraged Republicans went to war against Biden Regime over their “Ministry of Truth,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seemed to be leading the charge.
DeSantis said when he first heard about the disinformation board, he thought “it was just a belated April Fool’s joke.”
“You cannot have a Ministry of Truth in this country. We’re not going to let Biden get away with this one. So we will be fighting back,” he said.
DHS’s decision to scuttle the controversial board is “a cause of momentary celebration,” independent journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted Wednesday, while noting that Lorenz’s anger about the development is revealing. “Investigating and criticizing a Homeland Security official is now ‘harassment’ and bullying, according to the WashPost and @TaylorLorenz,” he wrote. “Only ordinary citizens can be investigated—not high-level US Security State operatives. Them’s the rules.”
Greenwald also suggested that Lorenz and Jankowicz may have a relationship that was not disclosed in the article.
“Indeed, Jankowicz has a very long history of defending Lorenz and expressing solidarity for the trauma Lorenz suffers when her work is criticized,” he pointed out. “That’s almost certainly where Lorenz got her version of events and seems like it should be disclosed when Lorenz defends Jankowicz.”
Greenwald went on to slam Lorenz for depicting “poor, marginalized” Jankowicz as the victim of “right-wing” disinformation, “when the most devastating investigative piece on her” was published in the far left Nation magazine.
The other bizarre aspect of the Nina-Jankowicz/@TaylorLorenz saga: Taylor depicts this poor, marginalized DHS official as the victim of "right-wing" disinformation, when the most devastating investigative piece on her was this one last week in @TheNation:https://t.co/kkDOmQ3dOg
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Update:
White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday that the work of the Disinformation board is on pause for “an assessment” but “the work doesn’t stop.”
Doocy to Press Sec. Jean-Pierre: "The disinformation board is being shutdown because of disinformation?" pic.twitter.com/jHxDji9eZM
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 18, 2022
Editor’s Note:
This report was updated after the Washington Post altered its original story to reveal that Jankowicz had “officially resigned.”