(Slay News) – Andrew Gillum, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Democrat opponent in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial race, has been indicted on 21 counts of fraud and faces 45 years in prison.

Four years after DeSantis narrowly beat Gillum to become governor, Florida residents are now realizing how close they came to catastrophe.

Since the election, Gillum’s life has spiraled out of control.

Gillum was busted with drugs and in the company of other men shortly after he lost the nailbiter election.

And now he just got indicted on 21 counts and faces 45 years in prison.

By contrast, DeSantis has been the most popular governor in America and a rising star in the Republican Party.

He has stood up against the woke mob and won and passed environmental bills that even the Democrats had to get behind.

DeSantis got 4,075,445 votes and Gillum got 4,041,762 in the 2018 election.

The Department of Justice issued a statement that said:

“A federal grand jury has returned a twenty-one count indictment against Andrew Demetric Gillum, 42, and Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks, 53, both of Tallahassee, Florida.

“The indictment was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

“The Indictment alleges that between 2016 and 2019, defendants Gillum and Lettman-Hicks conspired to commit wire fraud, by unlawfully soliciting and obtaining funds from various entities and individuals through false and fraudulent promises and representations that the funds would be used for a legitimate purpose.

“The Indictment further alleges the defendants used third parties to divert a portion of those funds to a company owned by Lettman-Hicks, who then fraudulently provided the funds, disguised as payroll payments, to Gillum for his personal use.

“Both defendants are charged with 19 counts of wire fraud. Gillum is also charged with making false statements to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“The initial appearance is scheduled for Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at 2:00 pm, at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee in the Magistrate Judge’s Courtroom on the main floor.

“The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen M. Kunz and Andrew J. Grogan.

“An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt.

“All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Andrew Gillum, the once-rising Florida Democratic star who narrowly lost his 2018 gubernatorial race against Ron DeSantis, has told associates that he expects to be indicted in federal court as early as today for alleged fraud tied to his campaign, NBC News has learned.

Story tk pic.twitter.com/DgCcfD9FXu

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) June 22, 2022

Andrew Gillum, DeSantis' 2018 opponent, indicted for wire fraud, false statements https://t.co/PrxBtLxAwW via @nbcnews

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) June 22, 2022

The Justice Department listed the maximum terms of imprisonment for the offenses as follows:

5 years: Making False Statements
20 years: Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud
20 years: Wire Fraud

slaynews.com/news/andrew-gillum-desantis-2018-opponent-indicted-on-21-counts-faces-45-years-in-prison/

(Slay News) – Dr. Anthony Fauci is refusing to stop the flow of taxpayer money to his “Chinese colleagues” as evidence mounts that COVID-19 originated from a lab in China.

Two years after the Covid pandemic began, Fauci, Democrat President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, is still fighting to fund medical research in China.

As Slay News first reported earlier this week, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now says that the virus originated from a leak at a Wuhan lab.

Despite the research labs in China likely being responsible for the origins of the novel coronavirus, Fauci continues to defend them.

During Senate testimony on Thursday, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), revealed that he would not stop funding biomedical research in China when asked by GOP Sen. Roger Marshall.

Fauci defended the funding by touring the “productive, peer-reviewed, highly regarded research projects” with Chinese virologists.

“I don’t think I’d be able to tell you that we are going to stop funding [the] Chinese,” Fauci said, according to the Washington Examiner.

Marshall further questioned Fauci on whether the public has access to all records and studies from EcoHealth Alliance’s research in China.

Fauci said that “we have access to an extraordinary amount of information that has gone there,” but he did admit that no one completely knows “everything that’s going on in China.”

He also told the Senate committee last week that Covid most likely originated as a “natural occurrence.”

Fauci is continuing to dispel the notion that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite mounting reports to the contrary.

“This is very, very likely a jumping species from an animal host, perhaps through an intermediate host, into a human species, which then spread throughout the human population, certainly, almost certainly, originating in China in Wuhan,” Fauci said.

If the midterm elections go well for them, Republicans are prepared to investigate why Fauci and other scientists backtracked on the origins of COVID-19, according to the Examiner.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel on Monday, Marshall talked with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan about “the Fauci COVID Cover-Up.”

WATCH:

“I’m hoping the Senate is going to be in Republican hands,” Jordan said.

“We’re hoping the House is going to be that way as well.

“And we’re already talking about a joint-type of investigation we can do because the country deserves the truth.”

Marshall and Jordan discussed scientists’ responses to the lab-leak theory.

They particularly focused on the 11 virologists who had a conference call with Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins on Feb. 1, 2020.

Collins was the head of the National Institutes of Health before retiring in 2021.

If the GOP wins the Senate and House in November, Jordan said getting the 11 scientists, Fauci and Collins to give sworn testimony would be on the table.

“We want to find out what exactly Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins may have had to say on that particular phone call,” Jordan said.

“So that’s how you start investigations.

“You don’t bring in Fauci for a deposition right away.

“You start by looking at these folks who were on the call, get all the documents you can in unredacted form – so that’s something that needs to happen.”

After reading the emails and correspondence before and after the call, Jordan believed that Fauci, Collins, and the 11 scientists knew that the lab-leak theory was plausible.

“The key is, we know or we’re convinced that Dr. Fauci, Dr. Collins, and others knew right from the get-go that this thing most likely came from the lab, and I think they took real concerted steps to make sure the country didn’t get that information,” Jordan said.

Most of the scientists agreed that Covid was a naturally-occurring virus after the conference call.

Many signed a much-publicized letter to that effect.

After that, the lab-leak hypothesis was deemed a “conspiracy theory.”

However, the notes Jordan and Marshall have reviewed from the participants in the phone call indicate some had initially expressed serious reservations as to whether the virus could have developed naturally.

As they pursue their investigation, the senators hope to be able to discover whether financial pressure might have been put upon the scientists — university professors whose work is dependent upon government research grants — to set aside their professional skepticism and get on board publicly with the theory of natural origin for the COVID-19 virus.

“Marshall wrote in February that the authors of those letters have collectively received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, arguing that ‘a failure to carry water for Collins and Fauci certainly could have resulted in new grants being reduced or even pulled back,’” the Examiner noted.

slaynews.com/news/fauci-refuses-stop-flow-taxpayer-money-chinese-colleagues/

(Slay News) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk has overruled Democrat President Joe Biden and warned the public that a recession is “inevitable” in the “near term.”

The tech entrepreneur made the prediction Tuesday during an interview with Bloomberg.

“A recession is inevitable at some point,” Musk warned.

“As to whether there is a recession in the near term, that is more likely than not.

“It is not a certainty, but it appears more likely than not.”

Biden tried to deny a recession is coming yesterday, despite repeated warnings from economists.

Former Obama administration economist Larry Summers has been warning about a recession for some time.

“We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation, in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment,” Summers said on Monday, as Slay News reported.

“There are numbers that are remarkably discouraging relative to the Fed Reserve view,” he said.

A reporter asked Biden yesterday: “Economists are saying a recession is even more likely than ever.”

Biden snapped back at the reporter, saying: “No, the majority of them aren’t saying that. Come on. Don’t make things up, OK?

“Now, you’re sounding like a Republican politician. I’m joking. That was a joke.

“But all kidding aside, no I don’t think it is.

“I was talking to Larry Summers this morning, there’s nothing inevitable about a recession.

“I think we’re gonna be able to get a change in Medicare and a reduction in the cost of insulin.

“We also can move in a direction that we can provide for tax increases on those in the corporate area as well as individuals as it relates to Trump’s tax cuts.”

Biden: "My mother had an expression: out of everything lousy, something good will happen. We have a chance to make a fundamental turn toward renewable energy, electric vehicles, and across the board." pic.twitter.com/Si4oJ7ROFg

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 20, 2022

However, despite Biden’s claims, Larry Summers said on NBC Sunday that a recession was likely to occur, warning it “is ahead.”

Summers said:

“My best guess is that a recession is ahead.

“I base that on the fact that we haven’t had a situation like the present with inflation above 4% and unemployment beyond 4% without a recession following within a year or two.

“And so I think the likelihood is that in order to do what’s necessary to stop inflation the Fed is going to raise interest rates enough that the economy will slip into a recession,” Summers said.

WATCH:

slaynews.com/news/elon-musk-overrules-biden-warns-public-recession-in-near-term-is-more-likely-than-not/

(Slay) – Ghislaine Maxwell is claiming to have helped “launch and develop” the Clinton Global Initiative in a new court filing. Jeffrey Epstein claimed for a long time that he too helped launch Bill and Hillary’s Global Initiative.

Her lawyers wrote in court:

Ms. Maxwell has always worked hard. Her many educational, occupational, and avocational accomplishments include becoming an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a helicopter pilot, a submersible pilot, a banker; partnering with the Cleveland Clinic to establish a telemedicine platform to enable people in remote areas to obtain quality medical treatment; helping develop the Clinton Global Initiative; and supporting a variety non-profit and charitable organizations.

In 2012, at age 50, she turned a lifelong passion for the oceans into a non-profit environmental organization, The TerraMar Project, with the mission of creating a “global ocean community” based on the idea of shared ownership and responsibility of the global “commons” (the high seas and international waters).

She spoke on topics related to ocean conservation, giving TED Talks, and delivering a speech at the United Nations. National Geographic and Oxford University were among the organizations that collaborated in support of the project. The TerraMar Project was closed after Epstein’s death to spare her partners from invasion of privacy by the press due their association with her.

Letters from Family and Friends

Accompanying letters from family and remaining friends (most having cut ties due to fear of association and the lure of “cancel culture”) attest to Ghislaine’s character; each offers a first-person narrative of some aspect of her life in sharp contrast to her characterization as a villain, rich heiress, and vapid socialite.

See Exhibit A.

Another psychotherapist and family friend of some 55 years, James Martin Hollomon,recalls his observations of Ghislaine’s father:

[T]heir father was narcissistic, demanding and highly controlling. He let them know early that he was going to leave his large fortune to charity. So, all the kids knew they had to “make it on their own” despite the wealth and privilege in which they were growing up. As I got to know each of these kids, including Ghislaine, I noticed that early on, every single one worked very hard at their jobs, as Bob wouldn’t bear any idleness, and each strove for their father’s and mother’s respect through their intelligence and their own hard work.

Exhibit B.

Her twin sisters, Christine Malina Maxwell and Isabel Maxwell, attest to Ghislaine’s work ethic:

We were privileged, but we were not entitled and life was not always perfect.

Unfortunately, our family also became a grieving family. Our eldest brother Michael was gravely injured in a car accident just after Ghislaine was born; he remained in a coma until his death when Ghislaine was seven years old.

In spite of this tragedy, I watched Ghislaine learn to adapt and to become a productive and caring human being.[B]oth of our parents had an incredible work ethic. We were all encouraged from an early age to work to earn money and to respect the responsibility that came with that privilege. I have witnessed that work ethic in Ghislaine.

Ghislaine had money because she worked very hard to earn it. Her positions demanded hard, diligent work, great intelligence, great management skills, great ability to get on well with people from all walks of life, artistic creativity, and caring about others.

Her work was a far cry from the ‘flippity-jibit socialite’ label that the media has decided to cast on her every time they reference her.

[F]rom a very early age each of us had to learn and demonstrate what our father termed “the 3 Cs: Consideration, Concentration and Conciseness” and to “always treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.”

We were quizzed on these principles constantly and had to regularly report examples of how we followed them. Ghislaine was no exception in deeply absorbing, exhibiting and living these values. For example, I think it is no small feat to train and become a helicopter pilot, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT),submersible pilot and more, as they all require dedication, concentration and quick thinking and reactions and no small amount of courage.

My sister was also very entrepreneurial in creating and investing in multiple companies and organizations which created products and services, as well as employment. An important example is that in 2012, Ghislaine turned a lifelong passion for the oceans into a non-profit, The TerraMar Project, with the mission

to create a “global ocean community” based on the idea of shared ownership and responsibility of the global “commons”—the high seas or international waters.

CONCLUSION

Ghislaine Maxwell is not an heiress, villain, or vapid socialite. She has worked hard her entire life. She has energy, drive, commitment, a strong work ethic, and desire to do good in the world.

She has supported friends and family through tough times and personal crisis and currently is assisting women in her unit at the MDC. She has endeavored to contribute to society (e.g., by becoming an EMT, developing a platform so that people in remote areas could receive quality medical assistance, helping launch the Clinton Global Initiative, creating TerraMar, providing GED tutoring for inmates in her unit) and will continue to do so throughout her sentence and when she rejoins the community beyond prison walls.

She has also tried to protect the people around her (Ted Waitt’s children, her stepchildren, the people at TerraMar) from the onslaught of press and public vilification that come with having been associated with her.

Read the entire filing here.

slaynews.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-claims-she-helped-launch-and-develop-clinton-global-initiative-in-new-court-filing/

(Slay News) – Democrat President Joe Biden was talking to reporters at the beach today when he cracked an inappropriate joke about the looming recession.

A reporter said: “Economists are saying a recession is even more likely than ever.”

Biden said: “No, the majority of them aren’t saying that.

“Come on. Don’t make things up, OK?

“Now, you’re sounding like a Republican politician.

“I’m joking. That was a joke.

“But all kidding aside, no I don’t think it is.

“I was talking to Larry Summers this morning, there’s nothing inevitable about a recession.

“I think we’re gonna be able to get a change in Medicare and a reduction in the cost of insulin.

“We also can move in a direction that we can provide for tax increases on those in the corporate area as well as individuals as it relates to Trump’s tax cuts.”

REPORTER: "Economists are saying a recession is even more likely than ever."

BIDEN: "No, the majority of them aren't saying that. Come on. Don't make things up, OK? Now, you're sounding like a Republican politician. I'm joking. That was a joke." pic.twitter.com/Ri5gO5cs6o

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 20, 2022

Larry Summers predicted the inflation we are feeling in our bones right now and Joe Biden ignored him.

Or maybe Biden didn’t listen to Summers?

Because Summers warned America on NBC Sunday that a recession was likely to occur as the historical inflation data points to it.

Summers said:

“My best guess is that a recession is ahead.

“I base that on the fact that we haven’t had a situation like the present with inflation above 4% and unemployment beyond 4% without a recession following within a year or two.

“And so I think the likelihood is that in order to do what’s necessary to stop inflation the Fed is going to raise interest rates enough that the economy will slip into a recession,” Summers said.

Biden: "My mother had an expression: out of everything lousy, something good will happen. We have a chance to make a fundamental turn toward renewable energy, electric vehicles, and across the board." pic.twitter.com/Si4oJ7ROFg

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 20, 2022

slaynews.com/news/joe-biden-cracks-awful-joke-about-recession-fails-to-get-any-laughs-now-youre-sounding-like-a-republican-politician/

(Slay News) – Vice President Kamala Harris has been MIA after a series of public speaking disasters that confounded onlookers. Harris perfected the art of talking in circles and looking ridiculous doing it.

But with poll numbers sinking, inflation rising, and President Joe Biden inexplicably making horrendous jokes about a recession, White House staff sent out Kamala. Who promptly botched a celebration of the Juneteenth holiday.

Harris erroneously told children in a speech at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington that black people were enslaved in America for 400 years, not 246 years.

Kamala said: “I think that we all know today is a day to celebrate the principle of freedom.

“And think about it in terms of the context of history, knowing that black people in America were not free for 400 years of slavery.

“Let this be a day that is a day to celebrate the principle of freedom, but to speak about it honestly and accurately, both in the context of history and current application.

“With the Emancipation Proclamation and Civil War, it required America to really ask itself, who is free?

“How do we define freedom?

“Freedom in terms of the autonomy one should have?

“Is freedom given to us or are we born with freedom? Right?

“I would argue it is our God-given right to have freedom.

“It is your birthright to have freedom. And then during slavery, freedom was taken.

“And so we’re not going to celebrate being given back what God gave us anyway, right?

“We should think about it also in terms of current application, asking is everyone we know free?

“Do we know anyone who is not free? Around the world do all people have freedom?

“Are there those who are without freedom?

“When we talk about freedom, are we talking about freedom from — or are we talking about the freedom to,” she said.

According to The New York Post:

“The first African slaves in what became the American colonies arrived in 1619 in Virginia. Slavery was abolished through the 13th Amendment, which was ratified in 1865 — ending 246 years of the practice, not 400.

“A White House official acknowledged Harris’ error, telling The Post that “the vice president was referring to 400 years since slavery began.”

Vice President Kamala Harris bungled a history lesson about the Juneteenth holiday Monday, telling kids that black people were enslaved in America for 400 years — overstating the actual time period by more than 150 year https://t.co/1gzfXCt168

— Pamela Hall (@pakayhall) June 20, 2022

slaynews.com/news/kamala-harris-bungles-history-lesson-celebrating-juneteenth-for-400-years-of-slavery/

(Slay News) – Hollywood superstar, Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis, was arrested Sunday in Italy on charges of sexual assault. The Crash director was arrested in a town in southern Italy.

Haggis, 69, is in Italy for a film festival that begins on Tuesday in Ostuni, a tourist town in Puglia. Festival organizers quickly moved to remove Haggis from the program.

Following an examination at a hospital, the woman “formalized her complaint and cited circumstances which were subsequently looked into for confirmation by investigators.” The victim also filed formal charges against Haggis.

Police arrested Haggis on suspicion of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury.

Allora Fest organizers said they “learned with dismay and shock the news that Paul Haggis is in custody for alleged violence” and “immediately proceeded to remove any participation of[Haggis from the event.”

“The themes chosen for the festival are, among others, those of equality, gender equality, and solidarity,” organizers said.

“As professionals and women they are dismayed and hope that the festival will help foster more information and awareness on such a topical and increasingly pressing issue.”

In 2017 and early 2018, several women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Haggis.

Prosecutors Antonio Negro and Livia Orlando said the woman was “forced to seek medical care” followong the sexual relations.

After a couple of days “of non-consensual relations, the woman was accompanied by the man” to Brindisi airport on Sunday and “was left there at dawn despite her precarious physical and psychological conditions.”

Paul Haggis Arrested in Italy on Sexual Assault Charges https://t.co/CW5oBVKeZb

— Variety (@Variety) June 19, 2022

Oscar-winning film director Paul Haggis was detained on Sunday for investigation of allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in southern Italy, Italian news media said, quoting local prosecutors. Haggis, 69, has been in Italy for a film festival. https://t.co/BdffkZWn4q

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 19, 2022

Paul Haggis has been accused of assault before—in 2018, he was sued for an accusation of rape, motivating three other women to come forward with sexual misconduct allegations. Haggis has denied all of the allegations as a civil trial has continued. https://t.co/ZjydpdfcFJ

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 19, 2022

slaynews.com/news/hollywood-superstar-paul-haggis-arrested-in-italy-on-sexual-assault-charges/

(Slay News) – Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has hammered Joe Biden over soaring gas prices, arguing that the Democrat president has “declared war on American energy.”

Speaking during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” DeSantis ripped into Biden over the nationwide record-high gas prices, accusing the president of “causing” the issue.

The Biden administration first blamed skyrocketing gas prices on supply disruptions from the pandemic.

The White House then blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Most recently, Biden claims oil refineries in the United States are at fault.

Not only does the president not have any “proactive solutions” for skyrocketing gas prices, but his policies are the “cause of a lot of it,” DeSantis said.

“Joe Biden came into office and declared war on American energy,” DeSantis began.

“We were energy independent for the first time in my life.

“When he came into office, he had sweeping executive orders to try to kneecap American energy production.

“This is a global market, it’s not just the U.S., but [Biden] has made it way worse here in this country,” he continued.

“They will not reverse course.

“This is just a religion for them to be attacking energy production in the United States, and people are paying at the pump like never before.

“It’s hammering blue-collar people, working people because … it impacts everything in the economy.”

“There’s also the fact that they printed trillions of dollars that we didn’t have,” DeSantis added.

“Those two factors have created a really a hellish scenario and now we’re on the precipice of — if we’re not already in — a formal recession.

“Maybe that won’t happen, but I think everyone’s looking at it and saying, ‘under Biden, with his policies, he’s going to plunge this country into a recession.’”

WATCH:

slaynews.com/news/desantis-biden-gas-prices-declared-war-american-energy/

(Slay News) – Celebrity Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has raised concerns that recent gun control efforts in the Senate fail to address “misogyny and white supremacy.”

Last weekend, a bipartisan group of senators actually agreed on a framework for a gun reform bill.

However, radical leftist AOC still isn’t pleased.

The proposed framework includes funding for “red flag” laws, enhanced school safety measures, and mental health services.

It also expands background checks into juvenile records for gun purchases and increases gun-related criminalization.

However, AOC has taken issue with the measures for gun-related criminalization.

According to the socialist lawmaker, the “focus on increased criminalization and juvenile criminalization, instead of having the focus on guns” is “racist.”

The mental health angle is also racist, apparently, because “what people are blaming on mental health are really deeper issues of violent misogyny and white supremacy.”

Journalist Eric Michael Garcia tweeted:

“AOC tells me she is worried about the criminalization in the gun framework: ‘particularly, the juvenile criminalization, the expansion of background checks into juvenile records, I want to explore the implications of that and how specifically i’s [sic] designed and tailored. After columbine, we hired thousands of police officers into schools and while it didn’t prevent many of the mass shootings that we’ve seen now, it has increased the criminalization of teens in communities like mine.’”

“After columbine, we hired thousands of police officers into schools and while it didn’t prevent many of the mass shootings that we’ve seen now, it has increased the criminalization of teens in communities like mine.” 2/2

— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) June 13, 2022

“When I asked if she was worried if the mental health aspects would increase stigmatization, she said ‘absolutely. Because what people are blaming on mental health are really deeper issues of violent misogyny and white supremacy,’” Garcia added.

When I asked if she was worried if the mental health aspects would increase stigmatization, she said “absolutely. Because what people are blaming on mental health are really deeper issues of violent misogyny and white supremacy. And while there are mental health issues..”3/

— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) June 13, 2022

“Attenuated like the deep isolation that we see with a lot of these folks, at the end of the day, we’re not addressing—there are some issues like the boyfriend loophole being closed,” she says. “The connection between domestic violence, and masa shootings, et Cetera.”

— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) June 13, 2022

slaynews.com/news/aoc-gun-control-bill-fail-address-misogyny-white-supremacy/

(Slay News) – Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration has launched a new “task force” that seeks to tackle “disinformation” online.

Unlike Biden’s failed “Disinformation Governance Board” led by radical leftist Nina Jankowicz, the White House’s new “Ministry of Truth 2.0” will be run by Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Thursday, the Biden admin created the new Harris-led Internet policy “task force” with goals including “developing programs and policies” to protect “political figures” and journalists from “disinformation,” “abuse” and “harassment.”

It lists “gendered disinformation” as one example of the types of “abuse” the “task force” with be tackling.

The action follows the Department of Homeland Security’s disastrous April rollout of its Disinformation Governance Board.

The first attempt at an anti-free speech board was paused after outrage over the perceived step toward government-led internet censorship.

A presidential memorandum establishing the new task force describes a sweeping mission to protect people who seek out a role in public life from online critics.

“In the United States and around the world, women and LGBTQI+ political leaders, public figures, activists, and journalists are especially targeted by sexualized forms of online harassment and abuse, undermining their ability to exercise their human rights and participate in democracy, governance, and civic life,” the memo says.

“Online abuse and harassment, which aim to preclude women from political decision-making about their own lives and communities, undermine the functioning of democracy.”

The new task force’s members include other Biden heavy hitters, such as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The panel held its first meeting Thursday afternoon.

Harris did not specifically use the term “disinformation” in her opening remarks, but declared, “all people deserve to use the Internet free from fear.”

However, many have noted that several of the task force’s objectives revealed during the press briefing appeared to be very similar to those of the recently-scrapped Disinformation Governance Board.

Wow – the Kamala Harris Online Policy Task Force sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like the DHS disinformation board..

Naturally @PressSec has no answers. pic.twitter.com/lykn03KHJs

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) June 16, 2022

“On a background call last night we were told that it’s going to be different from the Disinformation Governance Board in that it’s going to focus on illegal conduct online,” the reporter began.

“But the memo creating it was a little bit broader and it mentioned — I’m quoting from the document — ‘online harassment, abuse, and disinformation campaigns targeting women and LGBTQI+ individuals who are public and political figures.’”

“Can you clear up the ‘disinformation’ part?” he asked.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied that she would “need to talk to her team.”

She then notes that she was not party to the background call that the reporter had been on the night before.

The White House issued a press release detailing the task force’s creation and a number of its objectives going forward.

“Today, President Biden will sign a Presidential Memorandum establishing the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse, responding to the need for government leadership to address online harms, which disproportionately affect women, girls, people of color, and LGBTQI+ individuals,” the press release states.

The task force’s primary goal will be to “produce recommendations for the Federal government, state governments, technology platforms, schools, and other public and private entities to prevent and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including a focus on the nexus between online misogyny and radicalization to violence.”

The task force was also to be instrumental in “developing programs and policies to address the disproportionate impact of online harassment, abuse, and disinformation campaigns targeting women and LGBTQI+ individuals who are public and political figures, government and civic leaders, activists, and journalists in the United States and globally.”

slaynews.com/news/ministry-of-truth-2-biden-kamala-harris-disinformation-task-force/