FBI wouldn’t discuss Hunter Biden probe after convincing Facebook to suppress laptop stories

Hunter Biden’s title was raised in an FBI assembly with Fb earlier than the 2020 election, in keeping with sworn testimony by Elvis Chan, an FBI agent accused of “colluding” with social media corporations to suppress The Submit’s Hunter Biden laptop computer story.

Throughout a weekly election safety assembly in October 2020, days after Massive Tech censored The Submit’s story, a Fb consultant requested the chief of the FBI’s International Affect Process Power, Laura Dehmlow: “What are you able to share concerning the Hunter Biden case?”, Chan mentioned Tuesday in a deposition for a lawsuit in opposition to the Biden administration by Republican attorneys common of Missouri and Louisiana.

Dehmlow’s response was “no remark,” Chan recalled.

“From my recollection, at one assembly with Fb after the common agenda had been accomplished, one of many Fb analysts requested if the FBI had any data they might share concerning the Hunter Biden investigation.

“To that I recall Ms. Dehmlow saying that the FBI had no remark… She mentioned one thing to the impact that the FBI has no touch upon this.”

Below questioning by Missouri Solicitor Normal John Sauer, Chan couldn't “recall” if the dialogue included the “laptop computer particularly that had been the topic of the information tales.”

Hunter Biden - Image from Hunter Biden's laptop.
Hunter Biden got here up throughout an FBI assembly that occurred with Fb.

Requested by Sauer if Dehmlow knew on the time “that the FBI had the laptop computer and that the contents had not been hacked,” Chan mentioned he had “no concept.”

“I by no means requested her, and he or she by no means advised me.”

Chan additionally revealed that FBI officers had warned social media corporations throughout these weekly conferences that they had “concern… about potential hack-and-leak operations” which may happen shortly earlier than the election, “probably in October”.

However, he mentioned: “I don't bear in mind us particularly saying ‘Hunter Biden’ in any assembly with Twitter.”

Twitter fact checker Yoel Roth seen in his Twitter profile photo.
Yoel Roth labored because the Twitter’s head of web site integrity.

Chan’s testimony contradicts a earlier sworn assertion by Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of web site integrity, stating that the FBI had named Hunter when warning the corporate about anticipated “hack-and-leak operations’’ earlier than the election.

Roth mentioned in a Dec. 21, 2020 declaration to the Federal Election Fee: “I used to be advised in these conferences that the intelligence group anticipated that people related to political campaigns can be topic to hacking assaults and that materials obtained by means of these hacking assaults would probably be disseminated over social media platforms, together with Twitter… I additionally realized in these conferences that there have been rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would contain Hunter Biden.”

Proven a duplicate of Roth’s assertion, Chan mentioned “I'd interpret what he mentioned in another way…. I can not learn his thoughts, however my evaluation is, as a result of I don’t bear in mind discussing Hunter Biden at any of the conferences with Twitter, that we didn’t talk about it.”

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith
FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith allegedly doctored a doc to the FISA court docket.

“So, this could have been one thing that he would have simply considered a hot-button difficulty on his personal that occurred in October.”

Chan revealed he hosted a number of personal conferences with Fb to warn a few “hack-and-leak operation “

Chan additionally was questioned about Senate testimony by Fb CEO Mark Zuckerberg on October 28, 2020 – two weeks after Fb and Twitter censored The Submit.

Zuckerberg testified that the FBI had warned his firm earlier than the 2020 election to be “on excessive alert and sensitivity that if a trove of paperwork appeared that we should always view that with suspicion, that it could be a part of a overseas manipulation try.”


Compensate for Twitter’s censorship of The Submit’s Hunter Biden laptop computer story


Chan – who hosted a number of “personal conferences” with Fb within the weeks earlier than the 2020 election to ask them how they might cope with a “hack-and-leak operation” – mentioned his recollection of the dialogue was totally different from Zuckerberg’s.

“His language appears stronger than how I'd have framed it… I don’t bear in mind this for a reality, however I believe what we'd have mentioned is we'd have requested “When you obtain a complete — for those who see a trove of doubtless hacked supplies, what are you going to do about it?” Which might be our approach of asking them how their phrases of service would deal with a scenario like that.”

In early October 2020, shortly earlier than The Submit’s story appeared, the FBI requested Fb and Twitter what actions they might take if “hacked supplies” appeared on their platforms earlier than the Nov. 3 election. Each corporations assured the FBI that they might “take away hacked supplies in the event that they had been in a position to validate that it was hacked,” mentioned Chan.

Elvis Chan is an assistant special agent in charge assigned to FBI San Francisco.
Elvis Chan hosted a number of “personal conferences” with Fb within the weeks previous the 2020 election.
FBI

The FBI’s “inner discussions” about tips on how to deal with “hacked materials” on social media earlier than the election included a plan “probably to see if now we have sufficient possible trigger to execute a seizure warrant,” mentioned Chan.

“One other answer was to ask the corporate to consensually take down the knowledge even when it didn't violate their phrases of service.”

However Chan denied the FBI had ever requested that the businesses take down The Submit’s Hunter Biden laptop computer story as soon as it was printed.

Prime Twitter lawyer James Baker, who beforehand served because the FBI’s common counsel, is a “massive downside” for Elon Musk, in keeping with former Trump Nationwide Safety Advisor Kash Patel.

Facebook parent company Meta, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, China, Nov 7, 2022.
Chan additionally was probed concerning the Senate testimony by Fb CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
CFOTO/Future Publishing through Getty Pictures

Baker, deputy common counsel and vice chairman of Twitter since June 2020, is among the few remaining members of the authorized group who haven't been purged within the weeks since Musk purchased the social media firm.

“What's Elon doing [keeping him]?” asks Patel, pointing to Baker’s involvement in debunked claims that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

“As head lawyer on the FBI, he signed off on FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] warrants within the investigation of Donald Trump on false pretenses.

“One among his legal professionals [FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith] doctored a doc to the FISA court docket… He wrote the memo that exonerated Hillary Clinton.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters building in Washington D.C., United States, on November 29, 2022.
Chan mentioned FBI officers had warned social media organizations about “potential hack-and-leak operations.”
Celal Gunes/Anadolu Company through Getty Pictures

Baker left the FBI in 2018 after director Chris Wray eliminated him from the overall counsel position.

“Twitter is a non-public firm however everybody is aware of this controversial determine from his time at FBI… Elon ought to know that,” mentioned Patel, questioning whether or not Musk ever will reveal the complete story of how Twitter censored The Submit whereas Baker stays.

“What paperwork is Baker permitting out the door?”

Patel says if Musk is critical about full disclosure he ought to launch Baker’s communications whereas at Twitter, together with any together with his good friend, disgraced former FBI director James Comey, or with Joe Biden’s marketing campaign, or the Democratic Nationwide Commitee, or his good friend Michael Sussman, the previous Clinton legal professional acquitted in Could of costs of mendacity to the FBI when he tipped off Baker to a bogus connection between Trump and Russia’s Alpha Financial institution.

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