Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Charles Grassley of Iowa released a series of documents on Wednesday showing that the Biden administration’s Disinformation Governance Board was intended to have a domestic focus, despite promises from administration officials.

Top Biden administration officials, most notably Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, repeatedly claimed that the board would focus on disinformation pushed by foreign actors. However, the documents released by Hawley and Grassley reveal that the board intended to target alleged disinformation by topic, not by national origin. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “paused” the board in May before it began operations, although it has the option to bring it back.

The leaked documents show that the Biden administration expressed particular concern about “conspiracy theories about the validity and security of elections,” “disinformation related to the origins and effects of COVID-19 vaccines or the efficacy of masks,” and “falsehoods surrounding U.S. government immigration policy.” {snip}

Another document reveals that DHS hoped to create a public-private partnership with Twitter to target disinformation on the site. The document, a scheduling memo, shows that DHS viewed Mayorkas’ meeting with two top social media executives as an opportunity for Twitter to “become involved in Disinformation Governance Board Analytic Exchanges.” Mayorkas was also instructed to offer data to Twitter that would better allow the company to target content for removal.

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“This administration wanted you to be monitored. This Disinformation Board was set up to go after you. That’s what the documents say,” Hawley said during a Wednesday appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

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