A top House Republican is calling out Secretary of State Antony Blinken and demanding the closure of an agency office due to “censorship.”
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) addressed Blinken in a letter on Tuesday about “the outright censorship of Americans by the State Department under your tenure.”
The senior House Foreign Affairs Committee member suggested the agency’s Global Engagement Center should be shuttered because of alleged “domestic censorship activities,” and because it “repeatedly undertook to smear opinion writers, journalists and Members of Congress.”
“Against this backdrop is the State Department’s repeated assertions that the GEC does not engage in domestic activity. But this is not true.” Issa wrote.
The California Republican blasted the GEC because it “repeatedly funded, supported operations, and bolstered the credibility of organizations that explicitly aimed to censor conservative speech inside the United States.”
Issa referred to a Republican-led House Small Business Committee report that was published earlier this month alleging that the GEC promoted “tech start-ups and other small businesses in the disinformation detection space to private sector entities with domestic censorship capabilities.”
“By smearing anyone who disagrees with it as a Russian stooge, this network conflates U.S. citizens with a U.S. adversary, as State Department talking points did to my colleague Representative Jim Banks and the award-winning journalists Gabe Kaminsky and Matt Taibbi in a scheming sleight of hand that ruled out of bounds political opinions and fact-based reporting it opposed but cannot refute,” Issa wrote.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) sent a letter to Blinken as well demanding an explanation for the “sloppy and hypocritical lie” as the State Department tried to falsely link him to Russia in a 2023 press guidance.
A Russian media outlet’s misquotation of Banks was included in the press guidance that was first reported by the New York Post earlier this month.
I’ve been sanctioned by Russia but the Biden-Harris admin & proxies still falsely accused me of boosting Russian propaganda twice in the past year.
Congress must defund the Global Engagement Center! https://t.co/EmEmRhJxPp
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) September 16, 2024
“The intentional misquotation gives the impression that I had been speaking with a Russian propaganda outlet,” Banks wrote in his letter to Blinken.
“How often does the State Department attack elected members of Congress in its press guidance?” Banks asked. “Does the State Department review its own press guidance for misinformation or disinformation?”
In Issa’s letter, the congressman contends that the GEC is too far gone to be reformed and called on Blinken to “bring an end” to the agency.
“The GEC is too intertwined with this ecosystem to be reformed, particularly as a matter of grants, outlook, and staffing,” he wrote. “The United States critically needs a peacetime information function that counters with the truth the increasingly sophisticated adversaries opposed to America’s national interest. A functional State department would begin the overdue task of working in good faith with Congress to craft an enduring, credible solution.”
“Mr. Secretary: It is time for this failed entity to be held accountable. It is time to bring an end to the Global Engagement Center,” the GOP lawmaker added.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
- 221 DEAD people received federal housing aid in Colorado— Trump admin. demands answers - December 18, 2025
- Cruise Line official pushes back on ‘nonsense’ drink package limit - December 18, 2025
- Border Patrol Chief and progressive mayor clash during street confrontation - December 18, 2025
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
