WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said during a congressional hearing that the new Disinformation Governance Board established by the Biden administration cannot be trusted at all because the federal government is the biggest propagator of disinformation in the history of the world.
"I think you've got no idea what disinformation is and I don't think the government's capable of it," Paul told Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during the hearing on Wednesday. "Do you know who the greatest propagator of disinformation in the history of the world is? The US government."
Paul supported his point by highlighting the Pentagon Papers and former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's role in involving the United States in the Vietnam war, President Ronald Reagan lying during the Iran-Contra affair and former President George W. Bush lying about the existence weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Paul also brought up the Steele dossier, which was used to fabricate allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Russia repeatedly denied having ties to the Trump campaign and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation eventually found there was no collusion.
"You think the American people are so stupid that they need you to tell them what the truth is? You can't even admit what the truth is with the Steele Dossier," Paul remarked during the hearing. "I don't trust government to figure out what the truth is. The government is largely disseminating disinformation."
"The thing is if you're going to go around and say that you're the arbiter of information and of disinformation - i think you have no clue ... you don't have the perspective history knowing that disinformation - the largest progenitor of it - has probably been the US government," Paul continued.
Video shows that just as Paul ceases his remarks Mayorkas responded by stating his department has no intention of acting as the "truth police." The Wednesday hearing comes as the Department of Homeland Security recently formed a new Disinformation Governance Board to coordinate ways to challenge and contradict misinformation about homeland security, with a special concentration on Russia and irregular migration. Opponents have likened the new body to an Orwellian ministry of Truth.
Similar efforts by the Biden administration to clamp down on disinformation campaigns are being undertaken by the US State Department, which has its Global Engagement Center monitoring any potential efforts to undermine US security.