Nina Jankowicz, the head of the short-lived Disinformation Governance Board, which was under the Department of Homeland Security, is crowdfunding a lawsuit against Fox News for what she says were “malicious, reckless lies” about her.
The Biden administration claimed the board was created to fight false narratives around human trafficking along the border and domestic terrorism. However, critics saw it as a Ministry of Truth that the government could use to censor speech it doesn’t like.
“After my position was announced, baseless claims that the board was an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth’ and I was President Biden’s chief censor spread,” Jankowicz said in a five-minute video appealing for funds.
“Fox News launched overly-personalized, false, and incendiary coverage of me, mainstreaming online conspiracy theories to tens of millions of Americans.”
She alleged that Fox News had spread lies about her.
“They lied and completely manufactured my past statements. They called me a liar. They called me crazy,” explained Jankowicz. “And they told their audience I was evil.”
“Fox News irrevocably changed my life…I’ve lost something irreplaceable: peace with my son during his first year in the world.”
After it was announced that she would head the board, conservatives highlighted how she has previously been accused of spreading misinformation, including discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop story.
“Fox can’t keep getting away with targeting Americans for their hateful rhetoric and lies. Trying to silence professionals doing their jobs is not journalism. It’s vigilantism. And that’s ruining lives. So please donate what you can,” she said.
She wants to raise $100,000 to be used for the defamation lawsuit.
The House Committee on the Judiciary has made what it calls “several requests” to Jankowicz for “information relating to” the activities of that Disinformation Board, but that, as yet, little has been provided.
We obtained a copy of the letter to Jankowicz for you here.
If Jankowicz continues to avoid complying with the requests, “The Committee is prepared to resort to compulsory process,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan writes, “if necessary, to obtain your testimony and this material.
“The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to conduct oversight of matters involving civil liberties, including free speech and the First Amendment, pursuant to the Rules of the House of Representatives.”
Jordan continued that letters to Jankowicz were sent between May and December 2022 and though attorneys for Jankowicz have “belatedly contacted the Committee,” those “requests are still outstanding.”
