Congress must question the FBI agent involved in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story.
On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Elvis Chan, the lead FBI agent involved in mass social media censorship, to appear for a September 21, 2023 deposition. Last week’s subpoena followed Chan’s failure to appear for a scheduled voluntary interview to face questioning about the federal government’s role in burying the Hunter Biden laptop story in the month before the 2020 election.
While that scandal is much bigger than Chan, he is first in line to untangling the truth about how the government interfered in the 2020 election by running an info op to convince voters the Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation. Given Chan’s testimony in the civil lawsuit brought by Missouri and Louisiana and several individual plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden, as well as since-uncovered documents from Facebook, the importance of questioning Chan cannot be overstated.
What Chan Said
In Missouri v. Biden, the plaintiffs sued the Biden administration and numerous agencies and government officials, including the FBI and Chan. They alleged the federal defendants violated the First Amendment by, among other things, coercing and significantly encouraging “social-media platforms to censor disfavored [speech].” After filing suit, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and then obtained an order allowing for expedited discovery.
Since then, the district court has entered a preliminary injunction barring several federal agencies from coercing tech giants into censoring speech. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed the injunction but upheld many of the lower court’s legal conclusions. The Supreme Court is currently considering the Biden administration’s motion for a stay of the injunction.
What matters to the House’s subpoena of Chan is what the expedited discovery in Missouri v. Biden uncovered. It included the plaintiffs’ deposition of Chan. In his deposition, Chan testified he was one of the “primary” FBI agents who communicated with social media companies about so-called “disinformation.”
Specifically, “During the 2020 election cycle, Chan coordinated meetings between the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and at least seven of the major tech giants, including Meta/Facebook, Twitter, Google/YouTube, Yahoo!/Verizon Media, and Microsoft/LinkedIn,” with meetings occurring weekly as the election neared.
FBI Played Social Media Companies
While the government had no reason to believe a hack-and-leak operation was in the works, several of the FBI agents involved in warning the social media companies knew Hunter Biden had abandoned his laptop at a computer repair store and that the material on the laptop was genuine. That includes Chan, Demhlow, and at least three other individuals connected to the FBI’s FITF.
Was Chan Telling the Truth?
Last month, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan revealed his committee had obtained internal documents from Facebook that call into question Chan’s testimony. “I spoke with SSA Elvis Chan (FBI San Francisco) on 15 October 2020, as a follow up to the call with the Foreign Influence Task Force on 14 October,” one Facebook document read, contradicting Chan’s claim that he knew of no other inquiries from social media companies.
“I asked SSA Chan whether there was any update or change. . . as to whether the FBI saw any evidence suggesting foreign sponsorship or direction of the leak of information related to Hunter Biden as published in the New York Post story,” Facebook’s memorandum continued. According to Facebook’s internal document, Chan stated “that he was up to speed on the current state of the matter within the FBI and that there was no current evidence to suggest any foreign connection or direction of the leak.” Chan further assured Facebook “that the FBI would be in contact if any additional information on this was developed through further investigation.”
What the House Should Ask Chan
The House should explore these inconsistencies with Chan and further quiz him on both Dehmlow’s testimony and the Facebook documents. Chan should also be quizzed on with whom else he discussed the potential for a hack-and-leak operation.
We know from Chan’s Missouri v. Biden deposition that he had served as the supervisor for the Russia-adept cyber squad that investigated the DNC server hack before the San Francisco office handed it to FBI headquarters. Chan testified in that deposition that he would have discussed national security cyber-investigations involving Russian matters with Sean Newell, a deputy chief at the DOJ National Security Division who had also worked on the DNC hack. Chan should be pushed further on whether Newell or anyone else who worked on the DNC hack had raised the issue of a 2020 hack-and-release repeat.
If so, the question then becomes whether they knew of the existence and authenticity of the Biden laptop. That question proves significant because it appears the hack-and-leak narrative was peddled to the social media companies to prime them to censor the laptop story. So, knowing who knew the laptop story was accurate but still fed the hack-and-leak hysteria will point to the players responsible for interfering in the 2020 election by silencing the truthful reporting of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Chan may refuse to testify, however, even pursuant to a subpoena, or the Department of Justice may direct Chan not to submit to congressional questioning, forcing Republicans to enforce the subpoena in court. We’ll know tomorrow if either scenario plays out or if Chan comes clean with what he knows.
How does FBI agent Elvis Chan’s testimony and cooperation in the ongoing Missouri v. Biden case shed light on the government’s interference in the 2020 election and its ability to manipulate public opinion through social media censorship
Foreign sponsorship or direction of the leak.”
This revelation from Facebook raises serious questions about the truthfulness of Chan’s testimony. If he indeed had knowledge of other inquiries from social media companies and failed to disclose it during his deposition, it would be a clear case of perjury. The House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena of Chan is therefore crucial in uncovering the truth behind the government’s involvement in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The Importance of Questioning Chan
The testimony and documents uncovered in Missouri v. Biden have already shed light on the extent of the FBI’s coordination with social media companies during the 2020 election. It has revealed that Chan played a significant role in meetings between the FBI and major tech giants, discussing so-called ”disinformation” during the election cycle.
Furthermore, it has become apparent that some FBI agents involved in these meetings were aware of the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop and yet still pushed the narrative that it was Russian disinformation. Chan, being one of the “primary” FBI agents involved, may hold crucial information about this misinformation campaign.
The implications of this campaign go beyond the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. It raises concerns about the government’s interference in the 2020 election and its ability to manipulate public opinion through social media censorship. Chan’s testimony and cooperation are therefore essential in unraveling the truth and holding accountable those responsible for such actions.
Conclusion
The subpoena of FBI agent Elvis Chan by the House Judiciary Committee marks an important step in investigating the government’s role in mass social media censorship during the 2020 election. Chan’s involvement in coordinating meetings between the FBI and tech giants, as well as his testimony in the ongoing Missouri v. Biden case, make him a key witness in uncovering the truth.
The revelation of internal documents from Facebook, contradicting Chan’s claim of no other inquiries from social media companies, raises doubts about his credibility. The upcoming deposition provides an opportunity to address these doubts and ascertain the extent of the government’s interference in the election.
It is crucial that the House Judiciary Committee conducts a thorough and fair questioning of Chan to ensure accountability and transparency. The American people deserve to know the truth behind the government’s actions, and Chan’s testimony may provide significant insights into the mass social media censorship that occurred in the lead-up to the 2020 election.
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