White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed to have no information Thursday on the new head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board.
Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich questioned Psaki about the board’s executive director Nina Jankowicz and concerns about her possible bias.
Jankowicz, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, cast doubt on the Hunter Biden laptop story and praised Christopher Steele, the author of the now-discredited dossier attacking former President Donald Trump, according to the New York Post. (RELATED: Biden Official Tapped To Head DHS’s New ‘Disinformation’ Board Peddled Disinformation).
“There’s been some criticism of the person who’s been chosen to oversee this board,” said Heinrich, “How can you assuage concerns of people who are looking at this person who’s been appointed to this position and wondering if she’s going to be able to accurately judge misinformation?”
“What I can tell you is that it sounds like the objective of the board is to prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country,” Psaki said, “And I don’t know who this individual is, so I have no comment on it specifically.”
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.”
— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) October 23, 2020
Listened to this last night- Chris Steele (yes THAT Chris Steele) provides some great historical context about the evolution of disinfo. Worth a listen https://t.co/oQn5jS8tK8
— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) August 7, 2020
Heinrich followed up with Jankowicz’s recent comments on Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
“She also just recently made some polarizing comments about Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase,” Heinrich said. “It’s just getting some pushback from critics who are saying this person may not be the right choice for a board that is run by the Department of Homeland Security. Can you speak to that at all?”
“I don’t have any information about this individual. I can check on more information about the board,” Psaki said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the creation of the Disinformation Governance Board on Wednesday with the aim of combatting misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Fox News reported.
“The goal is to bring the resources of (DHS) together to address this threat,” Mayorkas said, according to the outlet.
Cat’s out of the bag: here’s what I’ve been up to the past two months, and why I’ve been a bit quiet on here.
Honored to be serving in the Biden Administration @DHSgov and helping shape our counter-disinformation efforts. https://t.co/uN20vl7qqV pic.twitter.com/JEn4FqLdck
— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) April 27, 2022
Jankowicz was named the executive director of the new board the same day, according to Politico.