America First Legal announced Monday that it is suing the Department of Homeland Security and its chief Alejandro Mayorkas for the "unlawful creation" of its Experts Group, a 17-member panel that it claims is composed of partisan, deep state officials.
The lawsuit, also sponsored by former Ambassador and Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, asserts that the group "lacks diversity in viewpoints and any credibility to speak on national security matters."
AFL calls out by name the inclusion of John Brennan, James Clapper, Francis Taylor, Asha George, Rajesh De, Caryn Wagner, and Elisa Massimino to the group.
Further, of the entirely of political contributions given by the Experts Group, 98% went to Democrat candidates while just 1% supported Republicans.
"In addition to not complying with the simple procedural requirements, the so-called 'Homeland Intelligence Experts Group' is an ideologically biased federal advisory committee that the Biden Administration established to rubber-stamp its radical agenda at the Department of Homeland Security – rather than providing independent, objective advice that reflects the views of experts across the ideological spectrum," wrote AFL general counsel Gene Hamilton.
DHS said the group has a charter of meeting four times a year to aid DHS with insight and guidance on "terrorism, fentanyl, transborder issues, and emerging technology."
The Experts Group has been in the crosshairs of Republicans from the jump.
House Republicans labeled it the "disinformation group" and fought to prevent its formation. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote to Mayorkas to terminate the group given that Clapper, Brennan, and Paul Kolbe all dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop case as Russian disinformation.
"Given the composition of its members, this group seems to constitute yet another effort from the Biden administration to undermine disfavored speech," Hawley wrote in mid-September.
AFL agrees.
"It is an effort by the Biden Administration to cover their tracks and obfuscate their ongoing efforts to censor the online political speech of Americans, maintain an open border, further weaponize the deep state, and target law enforcement at political opponents rather than criminals and illegal aliens," AFL wrote.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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