{"id":2178829,"date":"2024-02-17T08:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T13:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-threatening-to-obstruct-censorship-investigation-house-gop\/"},"modified":"2024-02-17T08:38:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T13:38:32","slug":"state-department-threatening-to-obstruct-censorship-investigation-house-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-threatening-to-obstruct-censorship-investigation-house-gop\/","title":{"rendered":"House GOP accuses State Department of obstructing &#8216;censorship&#8217; investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/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%2Fstate-department-threatening-to-obstruct-censorship-investigation-house-gop%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=2178829&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--><h2>Republican\u2063 Lawmakers Accuse State Department of \u200bObstructing Investigation into US Company Censorship<\/h2>\n<p>Republican lawmakers are \u2062leveling accusations against the State Department, claiming that it is attempting to\u2063 impede their investigation into\u2064 the censorship \u200cof American companies. \u2064The House Small Business\u2064 Committee \u200cRepublicans have been seeking grant \u200drecords from the State Department&#8217;s Global \u2063Engagement Center as part of\u200b their inquiry \u2064into government \u200ccensorship and \u200cinterference with \u2062American small businesses. The committee \u2064launched this investigation after reports surfaced about the Global Disinformation \u200dIndex, a British\u2063 think tank that\u2064 was blacklisting conservative media from receiving advertising dollars\u2063 through funding \u2064from\u200c the interagency group. The Biden administration has now threatened to only allow the GOP-led panel\u2063 to review\u2063 documents under\u2063 in camera supervision, which \u2064lawmakers view as\u2064 a veiled threat to hinder their investigation.<\/p>\n<h3>Obstruction of Oversight \u2063and Lawsuit Against\u200d the GEC<\/h3>\n<p>House Small \u2063Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams and\u2062 Rep. Beth Van Duyne wrote\u200d a letter expressing\u200b their concerns about the State Department&#8217;s actions. They argue\u200b that this standard is impermissible \u2063and obstructs congressional oversight. The tension between U.S. \u2062officials \u2063and congressional\u200c investigators has escalated as the state of Texas\u2062 and two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-anyone-more-annoying-or-treacherous-than-barack-obama\/\" title=\"Is Anyone More Annoying or Treacherous than Barack Obama?\">conservative media outlets<\/a>, the Daily Wire and the Federalist, pursue a lawsuit against the GEC \u200cfor\u200d allegedly \u2063funding \u200ban unconstitutional censorship scheme. The lawsuit names top officials, including Secretary of State \u2062Antony Blinken, \u200band focuses on the GEC&#8217;s \u200bprevious allocation of\u200b federal funds to the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, a company claiming to track online misinformation. The GDI and\u200b NewsGuard were\u200b mentioned in\u2064 the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, \u200dwhich aimed to prohibit the Pentagon from\u200b providing them\u200c with funding.<\/p>\n<h3>State Department&#8217;s Concerns and Republican Response<\/h3>\n<p>In response to\u200b the investigation, \u200dNaz Durakoglu, assistant secretary of state for \u200dlegislative affairs, sent a letter expressing\u2062 the department&#8217;s\u200d concerns about the public release of sensitive information by the\u2064 committee without prior consultation. Durakoglu highlighted that the department had provided \u200cgrant record documents \u200dto lawmakers,\u200d marked as sensitive but unclassified\u200b and not for public \u200crelease. However, the \u2062Washington Examiner published an article linking to these documents, which were \u2063obtained from \u2063the committee. Durakoglu\u2063 stated that the\u200d committee made no effort \u200dto consult with the department to protect the \u200dinformation before making it public. The State\u2062 Department is\u200d now considering\u200c providing sensitive \u200binformation \u200cto the committee only in an in camera\u200c setting, \u200bmeaning the committee would not \u2063receive physical copies of the documents.<\/p>\n<h3>Republican Determination to Continue \u2063the Investigation<\/h3>\n<p>Republicans view\u200d the State Department&#8217;s actions as unacceptable and indicative of \u2062the GEC&#8217;s \u200battempts to avoid\u2062 complying with information requests. The House\u200c Small Business Committee has been requesting documents\u2063 from the GEC since June of the \u2063previous year, but only received a five-page spreadsheet that omitted the majority of the requested records after six months. Despite the obstacles,\u2062 Williams and Van\u2062 Duyne assert \u2063that the committee\u2064 will \u2063not be deterred and reiterate their\u2064 requests for documents and \u200ba briefing in their letter to GEC special envoy James Rubin and Naz Durakoglu.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> \u2062What is the mission and purpose of the \u2063Global Engagement Center\u200c (GEC) and \u2063how\u200b does it relate to the \u200bprotection of First Amendment rights for American small businesses?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Uding\u2063 Secretary of State Antony \u200dBlinken, and seeks to hold \u200bthem accountable for violating\u2064 the First Amendment \u2062rights of American small businesses.<\/p>\n<h3>The Global Engagement Center&#8217;s \u200cRole and Controversy<\/h3>\n<p>The Global Engagement Center (GEC) was established in\u2063 2016 by the Obama administration to \u200ccounter foreign propaganda and disinformation that\u2064 posed a threat to U.S. \u2062national security. The GEC&#8217;s\u2064 mission is to \u2063disrupt\u200b and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnns-brian-stelter-bidens-ministry-of-truth-just-sounds-like-common-sense-to-me\/\" title=\"CNN\u2019s Brian Stelter: Biden\u2019s Ministry of Truth Just Sounds Like Common Sense To Me\">counter disinformation efforts<\/a> by\u200d foreign nations, terrorist groups,\u2062 and \u2063other foreign \u200dentities. While this \u200dmission is\u2062 generally seen \u200das important, there have been concerns \u2062about potential overreach and\u200b limitations on free speech.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy surrounding the GEC\u2064 centers around\u200d allegations of bias and selective enforcement of \u2064its mandate. Critics \u2063argue that the GEC\u200c has \u2064been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-judiciary-committee-again-postpones-vote-to-subpoena-conservative-donors\/\" title=\"Senate Judiciary Committee again postpones vote to subpoena conservative donors\">targeting conservative voices<\/a> and media\u2064 outlets, stifling free expression\u2063 and violating the rights of American businesses\u2064 and\u200c individuals.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2062recent revelations about the Global Disinformation Index \u2064raised \u2063further concerns about the impartiality and transparency of\u200d the GEC&#8217;s operations. The blacklisting of \u200bconservative media outlets from receiving advertising dollars, allegedly\u2064 funded through \u2063the GEC, raises questions about the use of taxpayer funds to\u200d suppress certain political viewpoints.<\/p>\n<h3>Republican Lawmakers&#8217; Efforts and State Department&#8217;s Response<\/h3>\n<p>Republican members of the House Small Business Committee have been actively investigating the alleged censorship and interference with\u200b American small businesses. They have sought grant records\u200d from the \u2063State Department&#8217;s Global Engagement \u200bCenter to understand the extent of \u200cits\u200b involvement and \u200bto determine whether any unconstitutional\u2064 actions were taken.<\/p>\n<p>However, the \u200dState Department&#8217;s response to this investigation has been met \u2063with \u200daccusations of \u200dobstruction. Threatening to only allow the GOP-led panel to review documents under in camera supervision is \u200bseen as a veiled threat\u2064 to limit \u2064the transparency and effectiveness of the investigation.<\/p>\n<h3>Calls for Transparency and \u2063Accountability<\/h3>\n<p>The accusations \u200cagainst\u200d the State Department and the ongoing investigation into censorship and \u2062interference\u2063 with\u2062 American small businesses raise serious concerns about the protection of free speech and fair competition in \u2064the \u2062online marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>It is crucial for \u200dlawmakers to have \u200baccess to all relevant documents and information to \u2063conduct a thorough and impartial investigation. The\u2062 State \u200dDepartment\u200d must \u200bprovide transparency and cooperate fully to ensure the integrity of the investigation and uphold the principles of free speech and fairness.<\/p>\n<p>The outcome\u2063 of this investigation\u2063 and the subsequent lawsuit against the Global Engagement Center will have far-reaching implications on the protection\u200d of free speech rights and the accountability \u2064of government agencies. \u200bIt is imperative\u2063 that the investigation is allowed to proceed without any obstruction, and that those \u200bresponsible for any violations are held \u2064accountable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican lawmakers are claiming that the State Department is impeding their investigation into US company censorship. The House Small Business Committee Republicans persistently seek grant records from the State Department&#8217;s Global Engagement Center to probe &#8220;government censorship and revenue interference of American small businesses by proxy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2178830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24047494997624-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2178829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24047494997624-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178829","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\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2178829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2178830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2178829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2178829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2178829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}