Biden State Department “stands by” disinformation grant to conservative blacklister
- May 30, 2023
EXCLUSIVE — The State Department “stands by” its widely scrutinized grant to a group the Washington Examiner revealed is blacklisting conservative media outlets, according to a letter to Congress.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) put the State Department’s Global Engagement Center on blast in a March letter to the agency and demanded an investigation into its $100,000 grant in 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index, which has fed conservative website blacklists to advertisers to defund disfavored speech. The agency issued a response to the congressman on Friday, telling him in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner that it has no regrets over the taxpayer-backed award.
“It is disappointing but not surprising that the Biden State Department hasn’t come close to offering a suitable explanation or corrective action for its role in the censorship of individual Americans and established conservative media,” Issa told the Washington Examiner. “Make no mistake: Congress isn’t done holding State accountable.”
There is no indication that the $100,000 grant was for GDI’s blacklisting efforts in the U.S. However, Republican lawmakers and watchdog groups have argued that money is “fungible” and have taken aim at the very idea that the State Department would support a group that is also engaged in anti-conservative activity in the U.S.