Exhibit 1136

The Mechanics of Government Censorship: How the Biden Administration Converted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency into the Thought Police (report)

Exhibit 1136 · Congressional committee report

The Mechanics of Government Censorship: How the Biden Administration Converted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency into the Thought Police (report)

In March 2018, DHS created the Countering Foreign Influence Task Force to “focus on the 2018 midterm elections” and election infrastructure disinformation.

Majority report on CISA's election-content work. It places the origin of the work in March 2018, when DHS created the Countering Foreign Influence Task Force for the 2018 midterms, notes the CISA Act was passed unanimously and signed by President Trump on 16 November 2018, and describes 'switchboarding' in the 2020 election, including a Maryland example in which an election official's emailed tweets were forwarded to Twitter, which replied the tweets 'have been actioned for violations of our policies'. It argues Congress should legislate on federal contacts with platforms because, 'regardless of who occupies the White House', agencies have outsized power. The report uses the House Judiciary report and the Scully deposition as sources. Characterizations are the majority's.

Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (Chairman Ted Cruz, majority)
Date: September 2025
Quoted from: Part II.A, p. 8
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/BFE7787E-0C18-47DF-B781-D6B92613DDC3
Accessed: 2026-11-10
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding INF-4.1: Primary record FBI, DHS and ODNI officials met regularly with platform staff about election content from 2017 and 2018, under the Trump administration, and the meetings continued through the 2022 midterms under the Biden administration.
Finding INF-4.3: Primary record CISA's head of its misinformation team testified that CISA forwarded election officials' reports about posts to platforms in the 2020 election, and the record differs on whether it did so in 2022. The district court wrote in 2023 that no evidence produced in the case tied the Trump administration to the switchboarding, and a 2025 Senate Commerce majority report dates DHS's election-disinformation task force to March 2018.