James Lynch writes for National Review Online about disturbing actions from the FBI.
The FBI spent the better part of a year preparing social media platforms to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story and withheld information from the companies when they wanted to know whether or not the laptop was authentic, despite knowing the laptop was real long before the 2020 election.
Even though the FBI authenticated the Hunter Biden laptop archive in late 2019, the bureau met with tech platforms over 30 times beginning in early 2020 to “prebunk” allegations that the Biden family traded off Joe Biden’s name to make a fortune from foreign business deals, according to a bombshell House Judiciary Committee report obtained by National Review. The FBI declined to comment on the report.
“In many of these meetings between federal agencies and Big Tech, the FBI raised the topic of potential ‘hack-and-leak’ operations amid conversations about “election security” and potential foreign influence operations,” the report reads.
“In response, some platforms even adopted new content moderation policies specifically designed to address hacked materials.”
The FBI obtained the Hunter Biden laptop hard drive and verified the device by cross-referencing it to Biden’s Apple iCloud identification, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified last year. During Hunter Biden’s gun trial, the prosecution presented the physical version of Biden’s laptop and brought FBI special agent Erica Jensen to the stand to explain how it was verified.
Jensen gave a detailed explanation of how the FBI obtained the device after receiving a tip from a Delaware computer store and cross-referenced its serial number to Biden’s iCloud storage accounts for other devices. The FBI used forensic tools to retrieve data from the laptop archive after getting a search warrant to examine the device.
After authenticating the device, the FBI team on the Hunter Biden briefed the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) multiple times because of the case’s connection to Ukraine. Months before the laptop story broke, the FITF was aware that the FBI possessed Biden’s laptop, multiple FITF officials testified to the Judiciary Committee, according to the report.
