House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan is warning of an escalation in his battle against FBI director Christopher Wray unless the bureau releases communications linked to the Hunter Biden laptop narrative.
On Monday, Jordan penned a letter to Wray, outlining that the Judiciary Committee might consider holding the FBI director in contempt of Congress to enforce the disclosure of internal communications and the identities of pivotal personnel involved in the bureau's discussions with social media companies prior to the 2020 election.
The letter, exclusively obtained by National Review, references the testimony of Laura Dehmlow, former section chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), who testified before the Judiciary Committee last year. Dehmlow detailed the FITF's interactions with social media companies before the 2020 presidential election, disclosing that the agency conducted over 30 meetings with Big Tech firms to alert them about foreign attempts to interfere with the election process.
Dehmlow declined to disclose several crucial details regarding the bureau's engagements with social media companies under the direction of her FBI superiors, leading Jordan to issue a subpoena requesting this information. The letter sent on Monday was prompted by the bureau's refusal to comply with the subpoena.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, an experienced IRS agent involved in the Hunter Biden tax case, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee last year. He revealed that the FBI confirmed the authenticity of the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop in November 2019. Special counsel David Weiss and his team of prosecutors echoed a similar narrative regarding the laptop's verification in a recent court filing pertaining to Hunter Biden’s federal gun case.
The New York Post's initial story on the Hunter Biden laptop archive was released on October 14th, 2020. On the same day, the FITF had a prearranged meeting with Twitter. During the meeting, an analyst from the FBI's criminal investigative division affirmed the authenticity of the laptop. However, the analyst was interrupted by an FBI lawyer who stated that the FBI had “no further comment” regarding the laptop's authenticity.
During her testimony, the FBI instructed Dehmlow not to disclose the identity of the FBI analyst or the FBI official who intervened during the meeting. Additionally, the FBI and Justice Department counsel advised Dehmlow against revealing the names of FITF personnel who participated in meetings subsequent to the Twitter discussion, where FBI officials deliberated on the information to be shared with social media companies in future meetings.
When Facebook inquired about the authenticity of the laptop, Dehmlow stated she had “no comment” on the matter, as instructed during internal FITF discussions. Despite FBI personnel within the FITF acknowledging the reality of the Hunter Biden laptop, Dehmlow was restricted from providing additional details on internal deliberations.
Facebook and Twitter censored the New York Post and its coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop prior to the 2020 presidential election, favoring then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The FBI has been urged to enhance its compliance with the subpoena by March 25th. The Judiciary Committee has indicated that it will explore “all available enforcement mechanisms” should the FBI fail to meet this deadline.
