Republicans blast FISA court appointment of Biden disinformation board lawyer

Republican lawmakers called it a “crazy” secret. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court A lawyer with previous ties to the Biden administration’s controversial disinformation board has been named to a key advisory panel.

Financial Intelligence Court judges appointed Jennifer Daskal this month to serve as amicus curiae, meaning Daskal is now among a small group of lawyers appointed to advise the secret court, which approves orders by federal authorities to monitor targets for foreign intelligence purposes. GOP lawmakers say Daskal’s history with the disinformation board raises concerns about her ability to discern whether search warrants are appropriate.

“The same person who helped build a council to oversee American speech is now advising judges on how to protect American freedoms,” said the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Jim JordanThe Ohio Republican told Fox News Digital in a statement. “This is ridiculous — and exactly why Congress should continue to oversee us.”

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Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, looks on during a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on September 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Deitch/Getty Images)

Sin. Eric SchmidtThe Missouri Republican echoed Jordan’s concerns, saying Daskal’s appointment was “insanity” and calling for reforms to the FISC.

Schmidt shared a video of himself on

FISC proceedings are confidential and “ex parte,” meaning that a judge reviews the federal government’s warrant application and the person targeted by the warrant has no knowledge of the proceedings. However, a judge reviewing the request can turn to amicus curiae to present counterpoints to the government’s request, meaning Daskal is among a handful of lawyers who could be tapped to argue against allowing the government to wiretap or otherwise monitor people’s phones.

The FBI logo is seen at the federal building in Los Angeles after a news conference to provide an update on the investigation into the May 18, 2025 bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, Calif., on June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government has access to these powerful espionage tools for foreign intelligence purposes, but it has sometimes, whether inadvertently or intentionally, inappropriately targeted U.S. citizens.

Building more guardrails into legislation has long been a point of contention among privacy hawks. Republicans, in particular, became highly critical of the Financial Intelligence Committee after it found that the court granted FBI warrant requests, which included weak and inaccurate evidence, to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page beginning in 2016.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, told… Washington Free Beaconwhich first reported on Daskal’s appointment, said that “the American people need to trust the people charged to serve as friends” to the FISC. Grassley pointed to a bill he introduced, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Accountability Act, that would allow Congress to have a say in who is chosen as a friend of the court.

Jordan and Grassley have been the most vocal proponents of reining in the federal government’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) after identifying cases in recent years in which intelligence officials allegedly abused their power and violated American citizens’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy. In Page’s case, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in 2019 that identified more than a dozen “significant errors or omissions” across the four FBI arrest warrant applications that were used to surveil the former Trump aide. In her new role, Daskal can present confidential and important legal arguments to the FISC judge that supports or opposes requests by intelligence officials to surveil a person.

Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, appears at the US Capitol during a government shutdown vote on Thursday, October 16, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Daskal worked as a senior lawyer at Department of Homeland Security When I helped launch the Disinformation Board. Conservatives have sharply criticized it, calling the council a “Ministry of Truth” that seeks to censor their views in violation of the First Amendment.

Daskal established the board of directors, while Nina Yankovic was named its executive director, an appointment that angered Republicans after finding Yankovic’s past social media posts they said revealed she was too partisan. For example, Yanukovych cast doubt on the New York Post’s bombshell story in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which she said fit a pattern of Russian “information laundering.” Biden administration officials have strongly disputed the allegations in a New York Post story about Joe Biden’s handling of Ukrainian foreign policy, although the authenticity of the laptop itself has been verified by court proceedings.

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Republicans put so much pressure on DHS over the board — calling it a “misuse of taxpayer money” and sounding the alarm that it painted political controversies over the coronavirus, election security and immigration as misinformation or disinformation — that it was disbanded just a few months after it was launched.

At the hearing between Daskal and Schmitt, Daskal said, “It is not appropriate for the government to censor any point of view.” Daskal did not respond to a request for comment on this story.