{"id":1571036,"date":"2022-07-26T08:05:35","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T12:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1571036"},"modified":"2022-07-26T08:06:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T12:06:04","slug":"fbi-jeopardized-national-security-by-calling-verified-hunter-biden-evidence-disinformation-whistleblowers-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-jeopardized-national-security-by-calling-verified-hunter-biden-evidence-disinformation-whistleblowers-say\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Jeopardized National Security By Calling Verified Hunter Biden Evidence \u2018Disinformation,\u2019 Whistleblowers Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffbi-jeopardized-national-security-by-calling-verified-hunter-biden-evidence-disinformation-whistleblowers-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1571036&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>FBI whistleblowers claim that agents opened a sham investigation into Hunter Biden to brand reliable and verifiable derogatory evidence as \u201cdisinformation,\u201d according to an explosive news <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/news\/news-releases\/whistleblowers-reports-reveal-double-standard-in-pursuit-of-politically-charged-investigations-by-senior-fbi-doj-officials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">release<\/a> issued yesterday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. <\/p>\n<p>If true, beyond exposing the FBI\u2019s role in running cover for the Biden family, the whistleblowers\u2019 claims prove significant for a second reason: By failing to thoroughly vet the evidence in its possession related to Hunter Biden \u2014 which included the hard drive for the MacBook Hunter had abandoned at a repair shop \u2014 the intelligence community ignored a momentous national security threat, namely that the Russians potentially possessed a second Hunter Biden laptop.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Late Monday, Grassley issued a news release citing \u201cmultiple FBI whistleblowers, including those in senior positions,\u201d who raised \u201cthe alarm about tampering by senior FBI and Justice Department officials in politically sensitive investigations,\u201d including \u201cinvestigative activity involving derogatory information on Hunter Biden\u2019s financial and foreign business activities.\u201d According to the Iowa Republican, the whistleblowers alleged that Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy \u201cThibault and other FBI officials sought to falsely portray as disinformation evidence acquired from multiple sources that provided the FBI derogatory information related to Hunter Biden\u2019s financial and foreign business activities, even though some of that information had already been or could be verified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The news release added that \u201cin August of 2020, FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment, which was used by a team of agents at FBI headquarters to improperly discredit and falsely claim that derogatory information about Biden\u2019s activities was disinformation, causing investigative activity and sourcing to be shut down.\u201d \u201cThe FBI headquarters team allegedly placed their assessment findings in a restricted access subfolder, effectively flagging sources and derogatory evidence related to Hunter Biden as disinformation while shielding the justification for such findings from scrutiny,\u201d according to Grassley.<\/p>\n<p>The Iowa senator claimed that \u201cThibault also reportedly ordered the closure of a stream of information related to Hunter Biden and sought to improperly mark the matter within FBI systems in a way that would prevent it from being re-opened in the future.\u201d \u201cThe FBI headquarters team allegedly claimed that reporting from the stream was at risk of disinformation,\u201d but the whistleblowers told Grassley, \u201cthat all of the information obtained through that stream was already verified or verifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The FBI whistleblowers\u2019 charges, if accurate, are devastating and mean that at a time that Hunter Biden was already reportedly under investigation by the Delaware U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, rather than work with the agents already investigating then-candidate Joe Biden\u2019s son, FBI headquarters initiated its own \u201cassessment.\u201d Then, according to the whistleblowers, agents improperly shut down sources, falsely framed evidence as disinformation, and hid the reasoning for that determination from other FBI agents behind restricted areas.<\/p>\n<p>The press release also suggests that the FBI\u2019s \u201cassessment\u201d served to frame the investigation Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., were conducting into Hunter Biden\u2019s foreign business dealing as tainted by Russian disinformation. As part of that investigation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsnationnow.com\/politics\/timeline-hunter-biden-federal-tax-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in May 2020<\/a>, \u201cSenate Republicans issued a subpoena seeking documents from the younger Biden and asked for information related to more than two dozen entities, including Burisma,\u201d which was the Ukrainian energy company that <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/26\/hunter-bidens-ukraine-salary-was-cut-after-joe-biden-left-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">paid<\/a> Hunter nearly $1 million a year to sit on its board.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the Trump-Biden presidential contest in full force, Grassley and Johnson\u2019s investigation into Hunter prompted pushback from Democrats, with Democrat members of the Gang of Eight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-fbis-dubious-briefing-11620168038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sending<\/a> a letter and classified addendum in July 2020 to FBI Director Christopher Wray \u201cspecifically citing the Johnson-Grassley probe into Hunter Biden as reason for an urgent briefing for Congress about foreign \u2018disinformation.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The following month, Democrat Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/senate-republicans-advance-ukraine-probe-aimed-at-biden-despite-foreign-interference-concerns\/2020\/08\/05\/6eb3718e-d503-11ea-b9b2-1ea733b97910_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> Grassley and Johnson and requested that members of the Senate Homeland Security and Finance committees, which they chaired, \u201creceive a briefing from the FBI\u2019s foreign influence task force related to their ongoing Biden investigations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to an August 5, 2020, Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/senate-republicans-advance-ukraine-probe-aimed-at-biden-despite-foreign-interference-concerns\/2020\/08\/05\/6eb3718e-d503-11ea-b9b2-1ea733b97910_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a>, \u201cthe Democrats have requested the member briefing for months, and the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies have previously briefed committee staff on possible foreign disinformation.\u201d The FBI later briefed both Grassley and Johnson on August 6, 2020, but according to the senators, that briefing was both \u201cunsolicited and unnecessary\u201d and failed to provide any new information to the senators or any specific allegations that they had received \u201cdisinformation\u201d as part of their Hunter Biden investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given that FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten, according to whistleblowers, opened his assessment into Hunter in August, the whistleblowers\u2019 allegations raise serious questions concerning whether Democrats pressured the FBI into launching an investigation into Hunter as a pretext to provide the desired \u201cdisinformation briefing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Further, in April of 2021, someone leaked the fact that the FBI had briefed Grassley and Johnson on August 6, 2020, with the Washington Post running a story painting the senators as reckless in their investigation into Hunter Biden\u2019s foreign business dealings by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-fbis-dubious-briefing-11620168038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suggesting<\/a> they \u201cignored FBI warnings and thus may have been manipulated by the Kremlin.\u201d As the Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-fbis-dubious-briefing-11620168038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> at the time, it seems possible that \u201cthe FBI set up two Members of Congress for political attack under the guise of a \u2018defensive briefing.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblowers\u2019 accusations then, when coupled with the media coverage, suggest that an agent from FBI headquarters opened an assessment to provide cover to Hunter Biden, to eliminate source trails for the investigation into then-candidate Joe Biden\u2019s son, and to taint the legitimate inquiry into Hunter Biden\u2019s business dealings. That scandal, however, represents but half the issue because the whistleblowers\u2019 statements, if true, suggest the assessment of Hunter was a sham. And as a sham, the agents would not vet the evidence available to them, which would have included the MacBook laptop Hunter had abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI seized that laptop in December of 2019, after being alerted to its existence in October. At that time, FBI agents were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/hunter-biden-laptop-repairmen-says-fbi-didnt-seem-interested-reviewing-hard-drive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> told that in addition to pornography, the computer had information \u201cdealing with foreign interests, a pay-for-play scheme linked to the former administration, [and] lots of foreign money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What the FBI did after seizing the laptop in December of 2019 is unknown. However, given that the FBI was reportedly told it contained \u201ca pay-for-play scheme linked to the former administration, [and] lots of foreign money,\u201d any legitimate investigation would have involved reviewing the laptop for information relevant to Grassley and Johnson\u2019s investigations. And had the FBI reviewed the laptop, agents would have <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/08\/18\/exclusive-fbi-knew-of-hunter-bidens-missing-laptop-as-early-as-december-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">discovered<\/a> a video recording capturing Hunter Biden saying that in 2018, another laptop went missing when he was \u201cpartying in Las Vegas,\u201d and that Hunter believed it was stolen by a group of Russians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The video then showed a prostitute asking Hunter if he worried the Russian thieves would try to \u201cblackmail\u201d him. \u201cYeah, in some way, yeah,\u201d Hunter replied, noting his father is \u201crunning for president,\u201d and that \u201cI talk about it all the time.\u201d Hunter had also noted that the computer had \u201ctons\u201d of compromising videos on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it was not just the compromising videos of Hunter of concern, but the financial information likely on that laptop that could implicate his father in the pay-to-play scandal. If that information were in the hands of \u201cthe Russians,\u201d as Hunter believed, the national security risk was huge and demanded the intelligence community conduct a defensive briefing of Joe Biden.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead, it appears from the whistleblowers\u2019 comments that a non-investigation took place, with legitimate sources and evidence falsely categorized as disinformation, and then rather than provide Biden a defensive briefing, the senators received one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This scandal is no longer just about the Biden family; it is about every member of the law enforcement and intelligence communities who put our country at risk by failing to do their jobs.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. <\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FBI whistleblowers claim that agents opened a sham investigation into Hunter Biden to brand reliable and verifiable derogatory evidence as \u201cdisinformation,\u201d according to an explosive news release issued yesterday by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1897810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1571036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/26\/fbi-jeopardized-national-security-by-calling-verified-hunter-biden-evidence-disinformation-whistleblowers-say\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fbi-jeopardized-national-security-by-calling-verified-hunter-biden-evidence-disinformation-whistleblowers-say","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}