The National Security Agency has dismissed its top attorney following a Daily Wire report that highlighted her previous work investigating President Donald Trump on behalf of Democrats, as well as her authorship of op-eds supporting censorship and defending the intelligence community’s handling of Trump associates such as Carter Page.
The National Security Agency has removed its webpage listing April Doss as general counsel, and “multiple former officials” confirmed to The New York Times that she had been dismissed.
The move signals that the Trump administration is acting on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s claim that documents reveal a conspiracy involving “manufactured intelligence” aimed at undermining the president. As part of that effort, the administration appears intent on removing individuals connected to the discredited probe from key intelligence positions, the Daily Wire reported.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who previously served as the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, hired Doss to help link President Trump to Russia. Warner strongly criticized her dismissal, underscoring her close ties to Democratic leadership.
“We should be outraged by the firing of April Doss, a deeply principled public servant, apparently for the role that she played in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russian election interference,” Warner said, according to NBC.
“Her dismissal appears to be the result of a politically motivated smear campaign driven by a far-right conspiracy theorist, not any legitimate concern about her conduct or qualifications,” he added.
The apparent dismissal comes after the Daily Wire’s July 23 report highlighted a series of missteps by Doss, pointing to her repeated calls for the security state to combat “misinformation” in instances where her claims were later proven incorrect.
Among them were her efforts to justify crackdowns based on vaccine skepticism and her assertion that Republican “extremists” were behind the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a case in which evidence suggests federal agents may have played a role in entrapping the suspects, the outlet noted.
Doss, who until this week served under President Trump, falsely accused him of inciting an “insurrection,” despite the fact that no one has been charged with that specific crime. She also described the January 6 protest as “deadly,” echoing debunked claims that protesters were responsible for killing police officers. Additionally, Doss defended the government’s handling of Page and Michael Flynn, both of whom were central figures in the controversial Trump-Russia investigation.
The Daily Wire added:
Doss’s strong advocacy for censorship by the government and tech firms put her at odds with important policy planks of the Trump administration. Trump’s Federal Trade Commission has aggressively investigated ad firms for their role in censoring so-called disinformation, such as the New York Post’s true story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The story also explained how NSA officials concealed Doss’s 2022 hire from Congress because officials and Democrats had blocked the appointment of a Republican with a similar background into the same general counsel role in Trump’s first term, calling it inappropriately political — a move they knew would open them to charges of double standards if Doss’s hiring were known.
Much like during the discredited Russia investigation, the media and Democrats quickly joined forces to spread misinformation following Doss’s dismissal.
Warner said Doss “appeared to” have been fired because of Laura Loomer, after the Times used the sub-headline “a far-right conspiracy theorist had amplified criticism of the lawyer and her previous work.”
Much of the article’s framing focused on the fact that Laura Loomer had shared a post on X summarizing The Daily Wire’s report, while largely ignoring the report’s actual findings—aside from noting that Doss had previously worked for Democratic lawmakers.
Although the Times’ decision to focus on a literal retweet instead of the actual story was unusual, much of the left-wing establishment media quickly adopted it without alteration.
MSNBC dropped a headline blaring “Right-wing influencer allegedly helps oust a National Security Agency leader (again).” One from the Daily Beast said, “Witch Hunter Laura Loomer Claims Scalp of NSA’s Top Lawyer.”