‘What Are You Talking About?’: Sparks Fly As Thomas Massie Presses Biden’s DHS Chief On Gov Censorship

Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie pushed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the agency’s COVID-19 censorship during a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) collaborated with social media companies to flag “disinformation concerns” to fight mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM), focusing on elections and COVID-19, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. Massie began his questioning of Mayorkas by citing a DHS terrorism advisory bulletin from February 2022, stating that factors such as online conspiracy theories and MDM threaten the U.S. with violence. 

The terrorism advisory bulletin also asserts that COVID-19 falsehoods led to violent attacks, a claim Massie pressed Mayorkas on during the hearing. Further, the bulletin states that “misleading narratives” about pervasive election fraud contributed to violence.

“What are you talking about in this document when you say that false or misleading narratives about COVID-19 inspired violent extremist attacks during 2021?” Massie asked. “Can you give us a single example?”

“Congressman, would you like an example?” Mayorkas asked. “COVID-19 is caused by 5G cell towers. An attack on a cell tower. That attack on a cell tower triggers the involvement of the Department of Homeland Security. That is an example. It is the connectivity to violence.”

Massie chuckled in response to the example, asking, “You think COVID-19 caused attacks on cell towers? I think you’re chasing ridiculous things.”

Republican North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop sent a letter in May to Mayorkas regarding DHS and CISA censorship of Americans related to COVID-19. Bishop asserted that DHS and CISA deny engaging in censorship despite evidence to the contrary.

“[Mayorkas] said that false and misleading narratives about COVID-19 need to be censored,” Massie stated. “He’s implying that they need to be censored because getting out this information, the free speech, is somehow dangerous to our country.”

DHS did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.