House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan sent four letters to various Biden administration officials on Friday that his panel has been attempting to schedule for interviews and otherwise obtain information in what is seen as a final ‘warning’ of sorts before he resorts to issuing subpoenas, the Daily Caller reported exclusively.
The outlet noted that the letters were sent to Chip Slaven, former Interim Executive Director and CEO of the National School Boards Association; Nina Jankowicz, former leader of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Disinformation Governance Board;” Viola Garcia with the National School Boards Association and Jennifer Moore, the Executive Assistant Director for the Human Resources Branch at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
In them, the Ohio Republican chastises the officials for ignoring requests for transcribed interviews and providing the panel with documents and information that had previously been requested. He is giving the named officials one final opportunity to appear before his committee before issuing formal subpoenas.
“We have made several requests to you for documents and information relating to the so-called ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ within the Department of Homeland Security and your role as the Board’s Executive Director. These requests, to include your appearance for a transcribed interview before the Committee, remain outstanding,” Jordan wrote in the letter to Jankowicz.
“These documents and your testimony are necessary to further our oversight. As we begin the 118th Congress, we write again to reiterate our outstanding requests and ask that you immediately comply in full. You have been on notice about our oversight requests — and are aware that the requests are outstanding — for months. For your convenience, we have attached the letters dated May 5, 2022, and December 1, 2022,” Jordan continued.
“Although your attorney has belatedly contacted the Committee, our requests are still outstanding. Accordingly, we reiterate our requests and ask that you comply promptly. The Committee is prepared to resort to compulsory process, if necessary, to obtain your testimony and this material,” he noted further in his letter to Jankowicz.
Before the letters were sent, a senior Republican source told the news outlet: “Chairman Jordan has had enough and seems ready to subpoena these people if they don’t comply voluntarily. The real question is why wouldn’t they? What are they hiding?”
After word of the board’s creation last spring, the Biden administration moved to shelve it quickly and sack Jankowicz. At the same time, the Biden administration defended her against her critics.
“Nina Jankowicz has been subjected to unjustified and vile personal attacks and physical threats,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the Post. “In congressional hearings and in media interviews, the Secretary has repeatedly defended her as eminently qualified and underscored the importance of the Department’s disinformation work, and he will continue to do so.”
The White House has also blasted critics of its ‘ministry of truth.’
“These smears leveled by bad-faith, rightwing actors against a deeply qualified expert and against efforts to better combat human smuggling and domestic terrorism are disgusting, and the administration has forcefully spoken out against them repeatedly,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News.
“Neither Nina Jankowicz nor the board have anything to do with censorship or with removing content from anywhere. Their role is to ensure that national security officials are updated on how misinformation is affecting the threat environment. She has strong credentials and a history of calling out misinformation from both the left and the right,” he claimed.
