{"id":2643505,"date":"2026-08-12T08:12:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignfbi-decided-biden-ukraine-scandal-was-russian-disinformation-without-even-running-an-investigation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:18:04","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignfbi-decided-biden-ukraine-scandal-was-russian-disinformation-without-even-running-an-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignfbi-decided-biden-ukraine-scandal-was-russian-disinformation-without-even-running-an-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Labeled Biden-Ukraine Allegations &#8216;Russian Disinformation&#8217;"},"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\">12<\/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%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignfbi-decided-biden-ukraine-scandal-was-russian-disinformation-without-even-running-an-investigation%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=2643505&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 documents released by the White house Openness Task Force reveal that the FBI conducted a counterintelligence operation named &#8220;Round River&#8221; beginning in December 2019 and continuing through the 2020 U.S. presidential election, possibly into 2021.This operation appeared to protect Biden family Ukraine business dealings and other Democrat interests by labeling certain details about Ukraine-related topics-including Hunter Biden&#8217;s involvement with Burisma-as Russian disinformation. The FBI\u2019s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF-R) assembled analysts who flagged derogatory reports on President Joe Biden and others, without verifying their accuracy, simply dismissing them as disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The operation categorized individuals into &#8220;conduits&#8221; (those believed to be spreading disinformation) and &#8220;targets&#8221; (those considered victims). Prominent Democrats like Obama, Clinton, Biden, Soros, Kerry, and Pelosi were labeled targets, while Republicans such as Bill Barr, Mike Pompeo, Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson, Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, and media outlets like Fox News were categorized as conduits. Many of those flagged as threats had roles investigating Hunter biden&#8217;s dealings or had expressed concerns about Ukrainian interference, yet the FBI dismissed their reports as disinformation without corroboration.<\/p>\n<p>The documents also suggest that the FBI&#8217;s focus was more on curbing the dissemination of certain details rather than verifying facts. Several confidential human sources (CHSs) provided reports linking Hunter Biden and other Biden family members to Ukrainian and Russian figures, details that predate the trump governance. Some of these CHSs&#8217; reports, which contained perhaps damaging information about the Bidens, were disregarded as Russian disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>This operation coincided with, and possibly influenced, political investigations and narratives surrounding Ukraine, Hunter Biden, and the 2020 election. The revelation raises concerns about FBI and intelligence community biases and their impact on investigations, especially regarding partisan or political figures.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation ran a counterintelligence operation appearing to run cover for Biden family Ukraine business dealings and other Democrats, labeling them victims of Russian disinformation, while labeling many prominent Republicans as \u201cconduit(s)\u201d of such disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>Democrat figures like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, George Soros, John Kerry, and Paul Pelosi were all labeled \u201ctarget(s).\u201d Republicans like Then-Attorney General Bill Barr, Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Then-Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Then-Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Then-acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney were considered \u201cconduit(s).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to documents released by the White House Transparency Task Force on Wednesday, the FBI\u2019s Foreign Influence Task Force \u2013 Russia (FITF-R) \u201cunofficially formed a group of analysts who utilized internal systems to gather any\/all derogatory information previously reported by confidential human sources (CHSs) on Joseph Biden corruption and other Ukraine related-topics (known as, the \u2018Ukraine Narrative\u2019) including, Burisma, Hunter Biden, Mykola Zlochevsky [founder of Burisma], Ukraine Interference in 2016 US Presidential election to red flag the reporting as Russian disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The operation, known as \u201cRound River,\u201d started in December 2019 and went \u201cup to and through the 2020 US presidential election,\u201d according to one of the documents. An administration official said it may have gone into 2021 as well. <\/p>\n<p>The documents include a declassified assessment of Round River from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) under Tulsi Gabbard, as well as a long list of \u201cconduit(s)\u201d and \u201ctarget(s)\u201d apparently involved on advancing Russian \u201cdisinformation,\u201d or being victimized it.<\/p>\n<p>The roughly 70 persons were all figures in the Ukraine-related impeachment of President Donald Trump during his first term, as well as the Biden-involved Ukraine scandal implicating President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in a corruption scheme involving the Ukrainian Burisma oil and gas company, upon which Hunter sat on the board.<\/p>\n<p>According to the ODNI report, \u201cthe Round River team did not corroborate any of the allegations of the \u2018Ukraine Narrative,&#8217;\u201d which means that the FITF-R did not even look into whether the Ukraine narrative was true, whether Hunter Biden was getting money from Burisma, or if there was corruption involving Burisma and the State Department, the administration official said.<\/p>\n<p>The administration official noted that at the same time Round River was going on was the \u201csame time frame that those 51 intelligence experts write the famous letter about the Biden laptop. And I think in all of those things, the commonality is there wasn\u2019t a concern about whether the Biden laptop was accurate or not. We now know the FBI already had it in its possession that already authenticated the laptop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same concern is expressed in the ODNI review of 2025 \u2014 that this operation didn\u2019t seem to care about whether the information that was being uttered or spread was true,\u201d the official continued. \u201cThey were simply interested in stopping its spread or using briefings to get people to stop talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One CHS report from February 2019 states \u201cCUB Energy Inc. (CUB) in Texas, is run by Mikhail Afeudkov. CUB was brought public via a reverse merger with a Canadian company. The scheme involves Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, and Chris Heinz-Kerry. The beneficiaries of CUB are Afeudkov and the former Ukrainian Minister of Ecology, Mykola Zlochevsky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBurisma Holdings owns thirteen companies, which are used to pay dividends on investments through fake consulting contracts,\u201d it continued. \u201cThe contracts are paid to US investors and funneled through Latvia and the energy sector of Ukraine. Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, have money invested into Burisma. Their investment was passed through a shell company in Latvia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The FITF-R instead determined, without checking, that certain CHSs with damaging information for the Bidens and other Democrats were peddling \u201cRussian disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile our internal review of the FITF is not yet complete, we are investigating whether the FITF used information learned from the Round River assessment to undermine or influence ongoing investigations by only focusing on the subset of CHS involving the Bidens,\u201d FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a letter to the White House Transparency Task Force. \u201cWe remain concerned that defensive briefings to Congress may have been overly focused on just Biden and Ukraine rather than the balanced picture of all foreign threats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRound River identified at least 53 Confidential Human Sources (CHS) whose identities were potentially known to foreign intelligence and under hostile control,\u201d Patel continued. \u201cAt least 14 of these CHSs reported derogatory information on Joe Biden. At my direction, this FBI will take the unprecedented step of providing you with the source reporting from all 53 sources so you can finally see the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The FITF-R divided those involved with the \u201cUkraine narrative\u201d into \u201cconduit\u201d (those they considered \u201cRussian disinformation threats,\u201d the administration official said) and \u201ctarget\u201d (those they considered \u201cvictims\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>The official noted that many considered \u201cthreats\u201d happened to be many of the same people investigating Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n<p>Conduits include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Rudy Giuliani<\/li>\n<li>Then-Attorney General Bill Barr<\/li>\n<li>Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo<\/li>\n<li>Then-Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.<\/li>\n<li>Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.,<\/li>\n<li>Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa<\/li>\n<li>Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio<\/li>\n<li>Then-Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.<\/li>\n<li>Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas<\/li>\n<li>Then-acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney<\/li>\n<li>One America News Network<\/li>\n<li>Chanel Rion (OANN White House correspondent)<\/li>\n<li>Fox News<\/li>\n<li>Herring Networks (Owner of OANN) <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Targets include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Joe Biden<\/li>\n<li>Barack Obama<\/li>\n<li>Hillary Clinton<\/li>\n<li>George Soros, left-wing dark money billionaire<\/li>\n<li>Hunter Biden<\/li>\n<li>Former Secretary of State John Kerry<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/victoria-nuland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Victoria Nuland<\/a>, former State Department spokeswoman<\/li>\n<li>Former CIA Coordinator for Counterterrorism Cofer Black, who <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/09\/26\/top-romney-adviser-worked-with-hunter-biden-on-board-of-ukrainian-energy-company\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">joined<\/a> the board of Burisma alongside Hunter Biden<\/li>\n<li>Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., \u201ctarget (part of a Soros-linked conspiracy theory)\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Tom Steier, \u201ctarget (part of a Soros-linked conspiracy theory)\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Devon Archer, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/03\/devon-archer-burisma-hired-hunter-biden-to-develop-brand-intimidate-opponents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">former<\/a> Biden family business partner<\/li>\n<li>Michael Donilon (advisor to Joe Biden), <\/li>\n<li>Tom Donilon (Black Rock Institutional Investments)<\/li>\n<li>Amos Hochstein (Board Member, Naftohaz Ukraine)<\/li>\n<li>Dale Perry (Managing Partner, Energy Resources Ukraine), <\/li>\n<li>John Templeton (Franklin Templeton Investments), <\/li>\n<li>Michael Hesenstab (Vice President, Franklin Templeton Investments)<\/li>\n<li>Stanford University, \u201cseems tangential (ref to allegedly Soros-sponsored research)\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Yale University, \u201cseems tangential (ref to allegedly Soros-sponsored research)\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Some of the CHSs had been used by the FBI since the Bush administration, and some of the CHS reports with damning information about the Bidens come from the Obama administration.<\/p>\n<p>For example, one CHS whose status was opened in May 2012 reported in December 2015 that \u201cCHS knows a Russian Intelligence Officer (IO) who told the CHS that Mykola Zlochevsky\u2026 is using his relationship with Hunter Biden to get closer to the Americans. \u2026 The IO referred to the relationship between Zlochevsky and Biden as a long-term operation\/long penetration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the ODNI report, another CHS \u201cdiscussed his relationship with Hunter Biden, who consulted CHS before he decided to work for Burisma. CHS also mentioned that approximately one year prior, Yuri Boyko could get access to the Ukrainian government investigation into Burisma and Boyko offered the information to the CHS.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FBI covered for Democrats, labeled GOP as disinfo conduits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2643506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Joe_Biden_speaking_at_Georgetown_Law_in_2016.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3620,50645,6991],"class_list":["post-2643505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-biden","tag-fbi-2","tag-ukraine"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Joe_Biden_speaking_at_Georgetown_Law_in_2016.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643505","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\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2643505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2643508,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643505\/revisions\/2643508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2643506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2643505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2643505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2643505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}