Newly released chat logs reveal that the FBI silenced an employee who attempted to confirm to Twitter that the Hunter Biden laptop story was legitimate on the day it was published. On October 14, 2020, the same day The New York Post first reported on Hunter Biden’s laptop, the FBI instructed employees, “do not discuss [the] Biden matter,” according to chat logs released by the House Judiciary Committee. The logs also indicate that an analyst who confirmed the laptop’s authenticity to Twitter during a meeting was subsequently subjected to a “gag order” and reprimanded by FBI officials.
Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official with the bureau’s foreign influence task force, previously testified that during the call with Twitter, an analyst confirmed the laptop was real before an FBI attorney stated the bureau would not comment further. The chat logs show internal discussions within the FBI on how to handle the situation, with messages reiterating the directive not to discuss the laptop.
Following the meeting, the analyst was “admonished” for speaking up, and one FBI staffer complained that the analyst “won’t [sic] shut up” as instructed. The FBI declined to comment on the matter. The bureau had already verified the laptop in late 2019 by cross-referencing the device’s serial number with Biden’s iCloud storage, according to FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen’s testimony during Hunter Biden’s gun trial last year. Federal agents obtained data from the laptop after securing a search warrant as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into Biden’s tax affairs.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley provided a similar account to Congress in 2023, alleging misconduct by IRS and DOJ officials in the investigation. Independent journalists Catherine Herridge and Michael Shellenberger first reported on the chat logs. Herridge has claimed that she was prevented from reporting on the laptop ahead of the 2020 election during her tenure at CBS News. Both Twitter and Facebook censored The New York Post’s reporting on the laptop after the FBI and other government agencies spent nearly a year preparing social media platforms to suppress the story.
Attorney General Pam Bondi later disbanded the foreign influence task force, which had played a role in coordinating content moderation efforts. House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and the Weaponization Subcommittee have been investigating the suppression of the laptop story and other instances of political censorship.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has been vocal in opposing social media companies working with the government to restrict certain viewpoints. Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook was wrong to suppress the Post’s reporting and criticized the Biden administration for pressuring the platform to censor certain discussions related to COVID-19.
Twitter, now rebranded as X, was acquired by Elon Musk in late 2022. Following the acquisition, Musk authorized the release of the “Twitter Files,” which detailed how company executives decided to censor the laptop story and limit the reach of conservative accounts. In December, then-President Joe Biden pardoned his son before his sentencing for federal gun and tax charges. Hunter Biden had been convicted on gun-related charges in Delaware and pleaded guilty to tax violations in California.
Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, along with the IRS whistleblower allegations, were central to the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. The investigation uncovered over $27 million in payments from foreign sources to Hunter Biden and his associates during and after Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president.
The inquiry also documented instances where Joe Biden met with his son’s business partners and joined them on speakerphone approximately 20 times. The Trump administration recently promoted Shapley and IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler to senior adviser positions after they faced alleged retaliation within the IRS.
Additionally, former President Trump granted clemency to two of Hunter Biden’s business associates, Devon Archer and Jason Galanis, both of whom testified during the impeachment proceedings.
SOURCE: NATIONAL REVIEW
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