FBI agent reveals Bureau met with tech companies on Biden laptop

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Aug 2023 23:47

Under oath, a San Francisco-based FBI special agent lied about discussions he had with major computer companies about information on Hunter Biden's laptop.

This Thursday, June 14, 2018, file photo, shows the FBI seal at a news conference at FBI headquarters in Washington. (AP)

An FBI official on the Foreign Influence Task Force testified to Congress on Monday that the government met with social media companies in 2020 to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop claim, but suppressed information from them, according to US House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jorda.

Jordan revealed in a statement on the social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government interviewed Foreign Influence Task Force chief Laura Dehmlow in July.

“[Dehmlow’s] testimony was shocking, revealing that the FBI deliberately withheld critical information from social media companies about Hunter Biden’s laptop the day that the New York Post story broke,” Jordan said. According to his statement, the FBI met with Facebook and Twitter on October 14, 2020, the same day US media published the Hunter Biden laptop report.

During an earlier meeting with Twitter, one FBI agent acknowledged that the laptop was authentic before another agent jumped in to declare the agency has "no further comment," according to the statement.

According to the statement, the FBI subsequently convened emergency meetings to decide how to reply to the question ahead of the meeting with Facebook, with one FBI employee directing that the agency respond with "no comment" moving forward. The statement adds that the FBI supplied such a response to Facebook when they inquired about the validity of the laptop.

“Did Dehmlow know that the FBI had the laptop and it was real? Yes. Did other key members of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force know? Yes. The FBI knew the laptop was real and yet decided it would say ‘no comment,’” the statement said.

According to the allegation, Twitter and Facebook then suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop report, adding that the Biden administration "secretly set in motion" the events that prompted 51 former US intelligence officers to say the tale was Russian disinformation.

The statement shows that FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan, the principal conduit between the agency's Foreign Influence Task Force and major internet corporations, made a series of "inconsistent statements" during sworn testimony.

Moreover, Chan lied about knowing anything related to the FBI's Hunter Biden laptop investigation and the extent of his engagement with social media platforms on the matter, adding that the Justice Department has “stonewalled” the committee’s efforts to interview Chan.