On 5/4/2022, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., challenged Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his department’s newly-announced Disinformation Governance Board, asserting that the American people do not need the federal government to tell them what the truth is. “Do you know, the greatest propagator of disinformation in the history of the world is? The U.S. government,” Paul said. “Are you familiar with McNamara? The Pentagon Papers? Are you familiar with George W. Bush and the weapons of mass destruction? Are you familiar with Iran-contra?”
“I mean, think of all the debates and disputes we’ve had over the last 50 years in our country,” Paul continued. “We worked them out by debating them. We don’t work them out by the government being the arbiter. I don’t want guardrails. I want you to have nothing to do with speech. You think we can’t determine, you know, speech by traffickers is disinformation. Do you think the American people are so stupid they need you to tell them what the truth is? You can’t even admit what the truth is with the Steele dossier. I don’t trust government to figure out what the truth is. Government is largely disseminating disinformation.”
Mayorkas explained of the newly formed DHS Disinformation Governance Board, ‘What this working group does is ensure that there are guardrails, definitions, standards to make sure that free speech rights, civil rights, civil liberties and privacy rights of individuals are not impeded.’
‘I don’t want guardrails. I want you to have nothing to do with speech,’ senator Paul tore into Mayorkas. ‘You think we can’t determine, you know, speech by traffickers is disinformation.’
Paul specifically pointed to claims that he has made about masks that have not been in line with administration policies. “I’ve said a million times that cloth masks don’t work. YouTube takes me down. They’re a private company I can have that beef with him. What about you? You’re going to look at that? … Are you going to put information out there saying that I’m spreading disinformation?” Paul asked.
Mayorkas refused to give a straight answer, claiming the board is not composed of ‘public health experts.’ “So public health won’t be part of the Disinformation Governance Board? No COVID disinformation? Yes or no?” Paul pressed. Mayorkas would not answer, claiming that Paul was giving him “vague” hypothetical situations. Paul claimed that his examples were “very specific.”
Paul disagreed with the idea that Americans need the government to do this for them. “I have a greater respect for the American people than you do. I think the American people can figure out the truth. And if you think the American people need to be told … But the thing is, is if you are going to go around saying that you’re the arbiter of information and of disinformation, I think you have no clue. And you don’t have the perspective of history knowing that disinformation, the largest progenitor of disinformation in our history, has probably been the U.S. government.”
Mayorkas denies knowing ‘disinformation czar’ called Hunter Biden laptop ‘Russian disinformation’
Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert who has worked throughout Eastern Europe, was hired on April 27 to lead a Homeland Security Department working group designed to help its different agencies in dealing with disinformation. The Republican National Committee dubbed the committee she heads ‘Ministry of Truth’ in a nod to George Orwell’s novel ‘1984,’ and raised fears that the group will deem as disinformation ‘any speech we don’t like.’
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Sen Paul: U.S. gov largest progenitor of disinformation in our history, You take me down?