Fox’s Heinrich Asks Psaki About DHS Misinfo Czar Who Called Hunter Biden Laptop ‘Trump Campaign Product’, Ripped Elon Musk
Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for her response to criticism of DHS misinformation czar Nina Jankowicz over remarks about Hunter Biden’s laptop and Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.
Jankowicz will head the newly-created Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, over the objections of Republican senators who oppose its creation and other conservative critics who oppose Jankowicz.
At Psaki’s briefing Thursday, Heinrich carried the concerns of Jankowicz critics into the briefing room, and Psaki stood by the work of the board, but didn’t have any information on its director:
MS. HEINRICH: And then on this new report that the Department of Homeland Security is setting up a Disinformation Governance Board to tackle misinformation ahead of the midterms: Secretary Mayorkas said that part of its intention was to tackle misinformation in Hispanic communities especially. Can you give us an idea of what this board is going to be doing, what their authority would look like?
MS. PSAKI: Sure, Jacqui. I really haven’t dug into this exactly. I mean, we, of course, support this effort, but let me see if I can get more specifics. We know that there has been a range of disinfo out there about a range of topics — I mean, including COVID, for example, and also elections and eligibility. But I will — I will check and see if there’s more specifics.
MS. HEINRICH: There’s been some criticism of the person who’s been chosen to oversee this board. She had previously called the Hunter Biden laptop a “Trump campaign product,” seeming to discredit its validity — or validity of reporting surrounding that.
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 now that a lot of that reporting has been proven to be factual in some ways?
MS. PSAKI: Well, I don’t have any comments on the laptop.
But 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 in a range of communities. I’m not sure who opposes that effort, and I don’t know who this individual is, so I have no comments on it specifically.
MS. HEINRICH: Her name is Nina Jankowicz. She also just recently made some polarizing comments about the Twitter — Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase. 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?
MS. PSAKI: I don’t have any information about this individual. I can check on more information about the board.
Jankowicz was quoted in an October 14, 2020 AP article — entitled “AP Explains: Trump seizes on dubious Biden-Ukraine story” — raising concerns about the laptop story, and saying “We should view it as a Trump campaign product.”
The article noted that the source of the emails given to the New York Post was longtime Trump campaign official Rudy Giuliani. More recent reporting has authenticated elements of the story, but as Heinrich herself noted — when she said “a lot of that reporting has been proven to be factual in some ways” — not all of them.
As for Musk, Jankowicz told an interviewer that she was broadly concerned about “free speech absolutists” running social media, in response to a line of questioning that described Musk in that way.
She told NPR “I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities all around the world, which are already shouldering so much of this abuse, disproportionate amounts of this abuse, and retraumatizing themselves as they try to protect themselves from it, you know, reporting, blocking, et cetera. We need the platforms to do more, and we frankly need law enforcement and our legislatures to do more as well.”
Critics have attacked the board as a “Ministry of Truth,” but according to an administration press release, the purpose of the body is to respond to misinformation while protecting free speech:
Disinformation poses significant and increasing risks to homeland security, including by fueling terrorism and targeted violence. The spread of disinformation can affect border security, Americans’ safety during disasters, and public trust in our democratic institutions.
Recognizing this elevated threat and the need to ensure that we are leveraging our resources efficiently and responsibly, DHS created the Disinformation Governance Board (DGB), an intradepartmental body that will coordinate activities related to understanding and responding to disinformation with a nexus to homeland security. Through the DGB, DHS will ensure that all such efforts to address this type of disinformation are conducted in ways that protect privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, including free speech.
When reached for comment, a Biden administration source pointed to Jankowicz’s credentials as an expert on misinformation and strategic communications, and tore into her critics:
Unsurprising that liars get triggered by the calling out of lies and respond with more lies. The release about their mission explicitly talks about protecting the First Amendment and ensuring that false claims that could impact Homeland Security – such as conspiracy theories that lead to violence – are on the department’s radar.
Watch above via The White House and AP.
