Jim Jordan Subpoenas Former Disinformation Governance Board Czar

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Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan has dropped a bomb on President Joe Biden’s administration.

The representative has subpoenaed former short-lived “Disinformation Governance Board” Czar Nina Jankowicz, The Epoch Times reported. He penned a letter to Jankowicz with the subpoena that advised her that his committee was conducting oversight of her former Board.

“The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the so-called ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its creation, its activities, and related matters. We have repeatedly sought information from you concerning your official actions and duties as a DHS employee and former Executive Director of the Board, including how the Board intended to define disinformation, how it planned to collect information and from what sources, how it anticipated countering disinformation, and how it proposed to protect First Amendment rights,” the representative said.

“We first wrote to you on May 5, 2022, requesting your voluntary cooperation with our oversight of the Board, its operations, and your work as Executive Director. In a subsequent letter dated December 1, 2022, we again requested that you provide documents and appear for a voluntary transcribed interview with the Committee. We reiterated our request for a voluntary transcribed interview in the 118th Congress in letters dated January 27, 2023, February 16, 2023, and March 1, 2023. To date, however, you have declined to comply voluntarily with our request for a transcribed interview,” he said.

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“The Supreme Court has recognized that Congress has a ‘broad and indispensable’ power to conduct oversight, which ‘encompasses inquiries into the administration of existing laws, studies of proposed laws, and surveys in our social, economic or political system for the purpose of enabling Congress to remedy them.’ Rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives authorizes the Committee on the Judiciary to conduct oversight of matters involving civil liberties to inform potential legislation. Our oversight of the so-called ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ and its effect on Americans’ civil liberties fall squarely within the Committee’s jurisdiction and are ‘subject[s] on which legislation could be had.’  These potential legislative reforms include the prohibition of such a federal ‘disinformation’ entity, restrictions on the executive branch’s authority to collect speech-related information about American citizens, or enhanced protections surrounding civil liberties. As the former Executive Director of the Board, you are uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary to inform the Committee’s oversight and potential legislative reforms,” the representative said.

“Accordingly, and in light of your disregard of our earlier voluntary requests, please find attached a subpoena compelling you to appear for a deposition,” he said.

The representative copied Democrat ranking member and New York Rep. Jerry Nadler on the letter.

Jankowicz responded to the letter on Twitter.

“I am ready to continue to stand up for the truth, as I have done my entire career, and I will not be cowed by conspiracy theories or intimidation. I am extremely proud of my service to my nation,” she said.

“I will happily testify to the truth of the Board under oath: That it was a working group meant to address disinformation that endangered Americans’ safety, and that — because of the Republican Party’s irresponsible lies about it — our democracy is less secure,” she said.

Then in response to someone telling her to start a GoFundMe to assist her in paying for her defense she responded by saying

“Hey my dude, turns out getting representation for something like this actually costs significant coinage. You’d do the very same to soften the blow,” she said.

The Epoch Times reported.

Separately on Monday, Jordan also subpoenaed Chip Slaven, the former interim executive director and CEO of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), and Viola Garcia, the former president of the NSBA, for depositions.

The judiciary committee “is conducting oversight of the misuse of criminal and counterterrorism resources by the executive branch against concerned parents at local school board meetings and the effect on parents’ protected First Amendment activity,” Jordan wrote in separate letters to Slaven and Garcia.

In September 2021, the two then-NSBA officials co-signed a letter to President Joe Biden, asking for federal law enforcement to deal with alleged threats from parents against school board members.


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