The FBI alerted major US technology companies about potential Russian document releases before The Post published Hunter Biden 's laptop stories in October 2020, according to a House Judiciary Committee investigation. Facebook executives subsequently discussed adjusting their censorship approaches to align with what they anticipated would be a Biden-Harris administration , New York Post reported.
This investigation's findings come as Donald Trump leads in polls for the upcoming November 5 election, with his supporters advocating for FBI reforms and potential regulations or antitrust actions against platforms like Facebook.
"FBI tipped us all off last week that this Burisma story was likely to emerge," wrote a Microsoft employee on October 14, 2020, when The Post released its first report on Biden family foreign dealings.
Facebook staff communications indicate immediate scepticism of The Post's reporting, considering it the "[e]xact content expected for hack and leak." Another employee noted it was "Right on schedule."
"Obviously, our calls on this could colour [sic] the way an incoming Biden administration views us more than almost anything else…," Facebook's Nick Clegg wrote to Joel Kaplan.
The Post conducted nearly a month of verification on the laptop files before publication. The FBI had possession of Hunter Biden's laptop since December 2019 and knew the files originated from a Delaware computer repairman, not Russian sources. However, they remained silent when 51 former intelligence officials and Joe Biden suggested Russian involvement.
The Post's coverage revealed then-Vice President Biden's interactions with his family members' international business associates in countries where he influenced US policy, including China and Ukraine.
While other news outlets later confirmed these reports, this occurred after Biden's victory over Trump in November 2020. Some Republicans attribute Trump's loss partly to doubts cast over the laptop's authenticity.
John Paul Mac Isaac, the computer repairman, provided the abandoned laptop to the FBI in December 2019, believing it contained significant corruption evidence. He later shared the same files with The Post.
Republicans in Congress assert the FBI and technology platforms worked together to prevent Trump's reelection. A Facebook employee's July 15, 2020 message said: "[W]hen we get hauled up to [Capitol] [H]ill to testify on why we influenced the 2020 elections we can say we have been meeting for YEARS with USG [the US Government] to plan for it."
The FBI reportedly informed some Twitter employees about the laptop's authenticity on the day of the initial story, but this information wasn't widely shared internally. No similar acknowledgment has been found regarding Facebook.
"[I]f the FBI's intent was truly to help social media companies combat actual foreign influence operations, the FBI should have shared the single most important fact: the influence-peddling allegations in the Post story were based off of real, credible information, including information in the FBI's possession," states the Republican-authored report under Chairman Jim Jordan.
"The FBI failed to do so. While the FBI eventually conceded that it had no indication that the allegations in the Post story were Russian disinformation — only after an FBI agent mistakenly revealed to Twitter that the laptop was 'real' — the FBI still withheld the fact that it had seized and authenticated Hunter Biden's laptop months prior.
"As a result, Twitter and Facebook continued to censor the most significant news story of the election cycle, limiting the reach of allegations of Biden family corruption and ultimately benefitting the Biden-Harris campaign."
The report criticises FBI Director Christopher Wray's leadership as other Republicans question the bureau's investigation of alleged Iranian hacking of Trump's current campaign.
Representative Elise Stefanik criticized on X "the FBI's deep corruption regarding foreign election interference from Iran targeting President Trump" and alleged "a corrupt coverup," receiving support from House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump supporters remain critical of the FBI's investigation into Trump's alleged Russian connections in 2016, which found no conspiracy evidence, and the bureau's involvement in criminal cases regarding classified documents and his challenge of the 2020 election results.
This investigation's findings come as Donald Trump leads in polls for the upcoming November 5 election, with his supporters advocating for FBI reforms and potential regulations or antitrust actions against platforms like Facebook.
"FBI tipped us all off last week that this Burisma story was likely to emerge," wrote a Microsoft employee on October 14, 2020, when The Post released its first report on Biden family foreign dealings.
Facebook staff communications indicate immediate scepticism of The Post's reporting, considering it the "[e]xact content expected for hack and leak." Another employee noted it was "Right on schedule."
"Obviously, our calls on this could colour [sic] the way an incoming Biden administration views us more than almost anything else…," Facebook's Nick Clegg wrote to Joel Kaplan.
The Post conducted nearly a month of verification on the laptop files before publication. The FBI had possession of Hunter Biden's laptop since December 2019 and knew the files originated from a Delaware computer repairman, not Russian sources. However, they remained silent when 51 former intelligence officials and Joe Biden suggested Russian involvement.
The Post's coverage revealed then-Vice President Biden's interactions with his family members' international business associates in countries where he influenced US policy, including China and Ukraine.
While other news outlets later confirmed these reports, this occurred after Biden's victory over Trump in November 2020. Some Republicans attribute Trump's loss partly to doubts cast over the laptop's authenticity.
John Paul Mac Isaac, the computer repairman, provided the abandoned laptop to the FBI in December 2019, believing it contained significant corruption evidence. He later shared the same files with The Post.
Republicans in Congress assert the FBI and technology platforms worked together to prevent Trump's reelection. A Facebook employee's July 15, 2020 message said: "[W]hen we get hauled up to [Capitol] [H]ill to testify on why we influenced the 2020 elections we can say we have been meeting for YEARS with USG [the US Government] to plan for it."
The FBI reportedly informed some Twitter employees about the laptop's authenticity on the day of the initial story, but this information wasn't widely shared internally. No similar acknowledgment has been found regarding Facebook.
"[I]f the FBI's intent was truly to help social media companies combat actual foreign influence operations, the FBI should have shared the single most important fact: the influence-peddling allegations in the Post story were based off of real, credible information, including information in the FBI's possession," states the Republican-authored report under Chairman Jim Jordan.
"The FBI failed to do so. While the FBI eventually conceded that it had no indication that the allegations in the Post story were Russian disinformation — only after an FBI agent mistakenly revealed to Twitter that the laptop was 'real' — the FBI still withheld the fact that it had seized and authenticated Hunter Biden's laptop months prior.
"As a result, Twitter and Facebook continued to censor the most significant news story of the election cycle, limiting the reach of allegations of Biden family corruption and ultimately benefitting the Biden-Harris campaign."
The report criticises FBI Director Christopher Wray's leadership as other Republicans question the bureau's investigation of alleged Iranian hacking of Trump's current campaign.
Representative Elise Stefanik criticized on X "the FBI's deep corruption regarding foreign election interference from Iran targeting President Trump" and alleged "a corrupt coverup," receiving support from House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump supporters remain critical of the FBI's investigation into Trump's alleged Russian connections in 2016, which found no conspiracy evidence, and the bureau's involvement in criminal cases regarding classified documents and his challenge of the 2020 election results.
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