Former Disinformation Board Chief Nina Jankowicz Accuses Grassley and Hawley of Amplifying ‘Lies’ About Her

Nina Jankowicz, the former head of President Biden’s disbanded Disinformation Governance Board (DGB), is accusing Republican Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) of amplifying “lies” about her weeks after her resignation.

In the letter, Jankowicz claims she has been “harassed,” receiving “aggressive, sexualized, vulgar, and threatening messages.” She claims the threats were based on “fundamental mischaracterizations” about the board’s — or Ministry of Truth’s — scope, and her role.  

“You were both signatories on the May 19 and June 7th letters that personally attacked me in an outsized manner,” she said, accusing them of touting false narratives and denying her desire for censorship. She also took issue with the lawmakers looking into what she said in the past, deeming it irrelevant and out of context. 

“As a result of this warped narrative, tens of thousands of my fellow Americans, by the most conservative estimate, so strongly believe I am a threat to their freedom that they took the time to defame, harass, stalk, and threaten me,” she said, calling on the senators to “stop engaging with and promoting this narrative and to condemn” the alleged attacks against her. 

“Personalized attacks have become endemic to American political discourse. As Senators, you have the power to set a different tone and example. I hope you will do so,” she added, offering to meet with them in person:

Jankowicz made headlines after initially accepting the role as the head of the board, while House Republicans demanded answers.

In the past, Jankowicz had been known to spread disinformation on the Alfa Bank hoax before the 2016 election. She also defended Hunter Biden’s corrupt Burisma deals and promoted the “Russia collusion” conspiracy theory. Further, she openly called for censorship on social media, despite her denials. 

As Breitbart News reported, she “called for increased regulation of free speech on social media, calling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s speech at Georgetown University on free expression ‘unfortunate,’ and protested against the inclusion of Breitbart on the platform.”

More recently, she expressed fear of “free speech absolutists” pondering “what that would look like for the marginalized communities all around the world.” She also referred to what she considers to be disinformation as “an American pathology,” pitching “new governmental structures and legislation” to combat it. 

All the while, Grassley and Hawley had been pressing for answers on the Biden administration’s plans for the disinformation board, revealing last month that the board planned to partner with Big Tech companies to monitor domestic speech on a variety of topics. 

“Given the significant coordinating role the Department envisioned for the DGB, the consequences of installing Nina Jankowicz, a known trafficker of foreign disinformation and liberal conspiracy theories, as the DGB’s first Executive Director, would have been a disaster,” they wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding “full transparency regarding the DGB’s creation as well as the role Jankowicz would have played had she remained in her position at DHS.”