{"id":1763416,"date":"2022-12-05T11:59:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T16:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1763416"},"modified":"2022-12-05T12:03:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T17:03:26","slug":"fbi-warned-twitter-of-hunter-biden-hack-and-leak-operation-before-2020-election-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-warned-twitter-of-hunter-biden-hack-and-leak-operation-before-2020-election-2\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Warned Twitter of Hunter Biden &#8220;Hack-and-Leak Operation&#8221; Before 2020 Election"},"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\">22<\/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-warned-twitter-of-hunter-biden-hack-and-leak-operation-before-2020-election-2%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=1763416&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>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-fbi\">FBI<\/a> warned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-twitter\">Twitter<\/a> explicitly of a \u201chack-and-leak operation involving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-hunter-biden\">Hunter Biden<\/a>\u201d ahead of the 2020 presidential election, documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) show, providing fresh insight around the social media platform\u2019s decision to censor the New York Post\u2019s explosive expose about the contents of a laptop linked to President Joe Biden\u2019s son.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter\u2019s former head of site integrity Yoel Roth made the remarks in a signed declaration\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/files\/legal\/murs\/7821\/7821_07.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) attached to a Dec. 21, 2020 letter to the FEC\u2019s Office of Complaints Examination and Legal Administration on behalf of Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>That letter came in response to a complaint by the Republican National Committee (RNC) that Twitter had made an \u201cimpermissible in-kind contribution\u201d to Biden\u2019s presidential campaign when it removed from its platform articles published by the New York Post about the contents of Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop.<\/p>\n<p>Roth said in the attached declaration that he was told by the FBI at a series of meetings ahead of the 2020 election that the agency warned of the threat of hacked materials being distributed on social media platforms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told in these meetings that the intelligence community expected that individuals associated with political campaigns would be subject to hacking attacks and that material obtained through those hacking attacks would likely be disseminated over social media platforms, including Twitter,\u201d Roth stated in the declaration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also learned in these meetings that there were rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would involve Hunter Biden,\u201d Roth added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4790885\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1242488276-1200x800-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4790885\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1242488276-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4790885\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1242488276-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> U.S. President Joe Biden (L) waves alongside his son Hunter Biden after attending mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Johns Island, South Carolina on Aug. 13, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Twitter \u2018Has Interfered in Elections\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In the run-up to the 2020 election, the New York Post published a story about a laptop abandoned at a computer repair shop that purportedly belonged to Hunter Biden and contained emails\u00a0suggesting that then-candidate Joe Biden had knowledge of, and was allegedly involved in, his son\u2019s foreign business dealings.<\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden has repeatedly insisted he had no knowledge of or involvement in his son\u2019s business operations.<\/p>\n<p>Roth said in the declaration that, after reviewing the New York Post\u2019s articles about the laptop, Twitter\u2019s Site Integrity Team determined that they violated the platform\u2019s policies against the distribution of hacked materials and took action on Oct. 14, 2020, to suppress distribution of the articles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPer the procedures and sanctions set out in the policies, the Site Integrity Team blocked Twitter users who had previously sent Tweets sharing those articles from sending new Tweets until they deleted the Tweets violating Twitter\u2019s policies,\u201d Roth said.<\/p>\n<p>Roth later acknowledged that it was a mistake for Twitter to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to believe, we didn\u2019t know what was true, there was smoke\u2014and ultimately for me, it didn\u2019t reach a place where I was comfortable removing this content from Twitter,\u201d Roth said during a <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/776426548?embedded=true&#038;source=vimeo_logo&#038;owner=430486\">recent interview<\/a>\u00a0at the Knight Foundation conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it set off every single one of my finely tuned APT28 \u2018hack and leak campaign\u2019 alarm bells,\u201d Roth added, referring to a Russian cybercrime operation.<\/p>\n<p>Roth was then asked if he thinks that Twitter blocking the Hunter Biden laptop story was a mistake, and he replied: \u201cIn my opinion, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the interview, Roth was asked whether he thinks safety on Twitter had improved after Elon Musk\u2019s takeover, to which he replied, \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Musk responded to a news article fearing Roth\u2019s remark by saying that Twitter had long failed in its trust and safety operations and interfered in elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe obvious reality, as long-time users know, is that Twitter has failed in trust &#038; safety for a very long time and has interfered in elections,\u201d Musk said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1598004480066621441\">post on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4860656\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Elon-Musk-Twitter-1200x753-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4860656\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Elon-Musk-Twitter-1200x753-1.jpg\" alt=\"Elon Musk Twitter\" width=\"640\" height=\"402\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4860656\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Elon-Musk-Twitter-1200x753-1.jpg\" alt=\"Elon Musk Twitter\" width=\"640\" height=\"402\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Twitter logo and a photo of Elon Musk are displayed through a magnifier in this illustration taken on Oct. 27, 2022. (Dado Ruvic\/Reuters)<\/figure>\n<h2>\u2018General Warnings?\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Separately,\u00a0Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/mkt_app\/fbi-responds-to-zuckerbergs-claim-it-helped-suppress-hunter-biden-laptop-story_4693199.html\">earlier this year<\/a> that the FBI had also warned Facebook to be on \u201chigh alert\u201d for \u201cRussian propaganda\u201d ahead of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>Meta, which is Facebook\u2019s parent company, issued a clarifying statement, saying in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MetaNewsroom\/status\/1563225392735219713\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter post<\/a>\u00a0that remarks made by Zuckerberg to podcast host Joe Rogan were general in nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FBI shared general warnings about foreign interference\u2014nothing specific about Hunter Biden,\u201d the company said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI said in a statement to media outlets at the time that their warning to Facebook\u00a0was of a general nature and didn\u2019t include a call to action.<\/p>\n<p>The agency said it \u201croutinely notifies U.S. private sector entities, including social media providers, of potential threat information, so that they can decide how to better defend against threats\u201d and that the agency \u201chas provided companies with foreign threat indicators to help them protect their platforms and customers from abuse by foreign malign influence actors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the bureau \u201ccannot ask, or direct, companies to take action on information received.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Akin to Twitter\u2019s censorship of posts sharing the Hunter Biden laptop articles, the story was also suppressed by Facebook in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4690454\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/zuckerberg-1200x800-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4690454\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/zuckerberg-1200x800-1.jpeg\" alt=\"mark zuckerberg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4690454\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/zuckerberg-1200x800-1.jpeg\" alt=\"mark zuckerberg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Mark Zuckerberg speaks in New York City on Oct. 25, 2019. (Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>\u2018Incredibly Inappropriate\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Several months before Musk bought the social media platform, he said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1519073003933515776\">tweet<\/a>\u00a0that \u201csuspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More recently, Musk suggested that Twitter was acting under government orders to suppress\u00a0free speech.<\/p>\n<p>After earlier\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/elon-musk-says-expose-of-twitters-free-speech-suppression-coming-soon-could-include-hunter-biden-laptop-censorship-revelations_4891811.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">teasing the imminent disclosure<\/a>\u00a0of Twitter\u2019s internal files on the company\u2019s \u201cfree speech\u00a0suppression,\u201d Musk on Friday shared a thread from independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/elon-musk-unveils-twitters-censorship-of-hunter-biden-laptop-story-in-2020_4901498.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">detailed a series<\/a>\u00a0of internal Twitter communications that give insight into various actions taken by staff at the social media platform, including around suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story.<\/p>\n<p>In one of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/micsolana\/status\/1598829963599151104\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his posts<\/a>, Taibbi shared a screengrab of an internal Twitter email dated Oct. 24, 2020, which appears to show a Twitter executive sharing a list of five tweets allegedly identified by people from the campaign of then-candidate Joe Biden, a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>Taibbi wrote in a comment: \u201cBy 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: \u2018More to review from the Biden team.\u2019 The reply would come back: \u2018Handled.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Musk replied to Taibbi\u2019s tweet with the word \u201cHandled\u201d followed by three \u201cfire\u201d emojis. He later responded to his own post with the statement: \u201cIf this isn\u2019t a violation of the Constitution\u2019s First Amendment, what is?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Twitter account @hodgetwins, run by a pair of conservative comedians,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hodgetwins\/status\/1598851097380016129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reacted to<\/a>\u00a0Musk\u2019s tweet: \u201cIt 100 percent is, collusion between govt. and big tech to violate the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That prompted Musk to respond and say that Twitter as a private entity acting on its own to suppress free speech isn\u2019t a First Amendment violation, but \u201cacting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The First Amendment guarantees protections for freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment on Musk\u2019s remarks about Twitter suppressing free speech under orders from the government.<\/p>\n<p>Musk said that another portion of the so-called \u201cTwitter Files\u201d exposing actions on the part of the social media platform to suppress free speech is coming soon.<\/p>\n<p>House Republicans, meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/this-is-an-investigation-of-joe-biden-house-republicans-allege-biden-was-involved-in-hunters-business-dealings_4869567.html\">have vowed<\/a> to investigate the president and his alleged involvement in his son\u2019s business dealings.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4869783\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1442253360-1200x800-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4869783\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1442253360-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4869783\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1442253360-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Flanked by House Republicans, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 17, 2022. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Hunter Biden Dodges Questions<\/h2>\n<p>Hunter Biden was confronted by reporters from the White House press pool while attending an event at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 4, at which the elder Biden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/12\/04\/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-2022-kennedy-center-honorees-reception\/\">gave a speech.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>White House pool reporter Geoff Earle, who <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GeoffEarle\/status\/1599538516978958337\">posted a photo<\/a> of Hunter Biden from the gathering, asked the younger Biden about the GOP probe and about Musk\u2019s moves around the Twitter free speech suppression disclosures.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter Biden \u201csmiled and walked away\u201d when asked the questions, according to the White House pool report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-tom-ozimek\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/WEB_TomOzimek-_1.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Ozimek\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tom Ozimek is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times. He has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FBI warned Twitter explicitly of a \u201chack-and-leak operation involving Hunter Biden\u201d ahead of the 2020 presidential election, documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) show, providing fresh insight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1746034,"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":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1763416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763416","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1763416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1746034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1763416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1763416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1763416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}