{"id":1467677,"date":"2022-05-08T07:29:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T11:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1467677"},"modified":"2022-05-08T07:29:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T11:29:58","slug":"sen-hagerty-says-biden-disinfo-board-likely-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-hagerty-says-biden-disinfo-board-likely-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Hagerty Says Biden Disinfo Board \u201cLikely Illegal\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsen-hagerty-says-biden-disinfo-board-likely-illegal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1467677&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/social_media_share\/public\/2022-05\/94BB4233-E841-4900-8ABD-3AF78ED2185F.jpeg?h=279670ce&#038;itok=RqmNIX6i\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., says the creation of a board within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked with combating &#8220;disinformation&#8221; is likely illegal.<\/p>\n<p>Creating the board and hiring its new director without Congressional authorization violates several federal laws, Hagerty, R-Tenn., said. Knowingly and willfully violating one of them carries a $5,000 fine and up to two years in prison, he adds.<\/p>\n<p>Hagerty sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying his \u201cactions merit review by Congress, both as a general matter, as well as under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) and because the actions may be in violation of provisions of the Antideficiency Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He told Mayorkas that \u201cyou will comply with the requirements\u201d of the CRA when it comes to the creation of DHS\u2019 disinformation board because the law requires \u201cany agency action that falls within the definition of a \u2018rule\u2019 must be submitted to Congress for review before it can take effect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Creating the board and hiring its new director, Nina Jankowicz, \u201cmay also be a direct violation of provisions of the Antideficiency Act,\u201d Hagerty wrote. The law prohibits \u201cmaking or authorizing an expenditure from, or creating or authorizing an obligation under, any appropriation or fund in excess of the amount available in the appropriation or fund unless authorized by law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Federal funding available for the board and for Jankowicz\u2019s salary \u201cis \u2018none,\u2019\u201d he said, because \u201cCongress explicitly defunded it, just weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Citing a section of the fiscal 2022 Omnibus Appropriations Act, Hagerty said the law \u201cspecifically prohibits the Secretary of Homeland Security from using any funds provided by Congress to carry out Section 872 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which means it defunded any action to \u2018allocate or reallocate functions among the officers of the Department of Homeland Security or to establish, consolidate, or alter organizational units within the Department of Homeland Security.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hagerty also put Mayorkas on notice, writing: \u201cAs you know, an officer or employee, including you, who violates the Antideficiency Act \u2018shall be subject to appropriate administrative discipline,\u2019 and, for willful violations, faces a criminal fine, imprisonment, or both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A federal employee who willfully violates the Antideficiency Act \u201cshall be subject to appropriate administrative discipline including, when circumstances warrant, suspension from duty without pay or removal from office.\u201d A federal employee who \u201cknowingly and willfully\u201d violates it \u201cshall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After receiving a wide range of criticism about the DHS\u2019s disinformation board, Mayorkas hit the television circuit last weekend and testified before the Senate on Wednesday. DHS also published a fact sheet about its disinformation initiative, calling it an internal working group.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, Mayorkas said DHS had been talking with secretaries of state and the new board\u2019s focus would be on the upcoming midterm elections. But the fact sheet states its focus is on \u201cdisinformation spread by foreign states such as Russia, China, and Iran, or other adversaries such as transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling organizations. Such malicious actors often spread disinformation to exploit vulnerable individuals and the American public, including during national emergencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mayorkas defended the Jankowicz selection despite numerous claims she\u2019s made that have been proven to be false, while she labeled many Americans exercising their free speech as \u201cdisinformation launderers,\u201d even labeling Loudon County, Virginia, parents who opposed curriculum being taught to their children as \u201cdisinformers\u2019 engaged in \u2018disinformation for profit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Twenty attorneys general demanded that Mayorkas immediately shut down DHS\u2019 disinformation board, or working group, regardless of what it\u2019s called, arguing it\u2019s unconstitutional, illegal and un-American. If he doesn\u2019t, they said they will take legal action.<\/p>\n<p>Hagerty gave Mayorkas until May 16 to submit to Congress the rules and policies the DHS disinformation board would implement. He also instructed Mayorkas to submit a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, President Joe Biden, Congress, and Comptroller General of the United States that includes specific information about \u201cthe violation if it has indeed occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., says the creation of a board within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked with combating &#8220;disinformation&#8221; is likely illegal.Creating the board and hiring its new<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}