Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had no idea President Joe Biden’s new disinformation chief suggested Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell” was Russian disinformation on Thursday.
Biden appointed Nina Jankowicz the head of the “Disinformation Governance Board” on Tuesday after Elon Musk inked a deal to purchase Twitter on Monday.
“I’m not familiar with those statements,” Mayorkas responded to Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) question of whether or not he knew of Jankowicz’s political position on Hunter Biden’s authenticated laptop.
In 2020, Jankowicz insinuated a Politico article alleging that Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation. The article highlighted 50 former national security advisers who suggested the laptop was Russian propaganda.
“Back on the ‘laptop from hell,’ apparently- Biden notes 50 former natsec officials and 5 former CIA heads that believe the laptop is a Russian influence op. Trump says ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,'” Jankowicz tweeted the article’s partial headline.
Jankowicz will now be in charge of censoring those who propagate false information.
Jankowicz was not the only individual to use Politico’s now-debunked story to propagate false theories about Hunter’s laptop. Jankowicz joins a list of 15 media organizations and personalities that used Politico’s false story to push a debunked media narrative.
The Huffington Post, The Intercept, MotherJones, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki have failed to retract reporting that claimed Hunter’s laptop was “Russian disinfo,” according to “dozens of former intel officials.”
Jankowicz’s record of political commentary is dubious. Jankowicz insinuated that Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is a threat to free speech by alleging that “free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms.”
“By all means, let’s regulate social media. But let’s do it with proper thought and consultation, with the nation’s best interests at heart, not with the sweep of a sharpie in response to a specter of ‘political censorship’ that doesn’t exist,” Jankowicz tweeted in 2019.
Jankowicz has additionally suggested that former President Donald Trump incited “homegrown fascism,” along with alleging the U.S. is a systemically racist nation.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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