This is part of a Washington Examiner series on self-styled “disinformation” tracking groups that are blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media outlets. Here is where you can read other stories in the series.
EXCLUSIVE — Republican and Democratic staffers for two key congressional committees received a classified briefing from the State Department in connection to the agency bankrolling a purported “disinformation” tracking group that is blacklisting conservative media outlets.
The Global Engagement Center, an interagency organization housed under the State Department, granted $100,000 in 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index and is silent on whether it will commit to no longer providing the group taxpayer dollars. On Wednesday, the center gave a classified briefing to staffers for both the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, noting that its grant was not for U.S. matters, according to two congressional sources familiar with the matter.