FBI Director Dodges When Asked if Hunter Biden Laptop Story Is Disinformation
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FBI director Chris Wray dodged a question about whether the Hunter Biden laptop story is “disinformation” during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday.
“There is an ongoing investigation that is relevant to that. So I have to be careful of what I can share on that here,” Wray said when asked whether the laptop story was disinformation by Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.)
Stefanik pressed again, and Wray replied: “I don’t think there’s anything I can share on that in open setting.”
WATCH: FBI Director Chris Wray refuses to answer whether he believes the Hunter Biden laptop story is disinformation. pic.twitter.com/dCQVhEChvo
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) March 9, 2023
While much of the mainstream media and a group of more than 50 former senior intelligence officials dismissed the laptop story as Russian disinformation when it first emerged in October 2020, the validity of the laptop has now been confirmed by several news outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. CBS News reported in November 2022 that it had conducted an independent review of Biden’s laptop that showed “no evidence” that the laptop hard drive “was faked or tampered with.”
After analyzing the hard drive, digital forensic investigator Mark Lanterman told CBS News that a voicemail from President Biden in which he tells Hunter he has to “get some help” with his drug problem helps confirm its authenticity. Other recovered images of credit cards, a driver’s license, and a Social Security number offered further proof for the review.
“Just the sheer volume of what we’re dealing with, it would be difficult if not impossible to fabricate,” another analyst told CBS News.
On Thursday, Stefanik asked Wray if he was aware the bureau had been in possession of the laptop since December 2019.
“I can’t speak to exactly when we had the laptop available,” Wray said. “As you know, there is an ongoing investigation run by the U.S. attorney out of Delaware from the prior administration that we continue to work very closely with . . .”
Stefanik interrupted to say, “And we have an ongoing investigation as well.”
Wray then concluded: “Our Baltimore field office is working very hard with that U.S. attorney. And I expect them to pursue that case as far as it takes.”
Earlier on Thursday, Stefanik asked Wray if he was aware the FBI was in contact with Twitter about the laptop story. The platform blocked the New York Post’s report on the laptop in October 2020, claiming at the time that it was in violation of its hacked-materials policy.
“I don’t believe FBI personnel were in contact with Twitter about the Hunter laptop story specifically. I think there were people in contact with Twitter about Russian disinformation efforts,” he said.
Stefanik replied, “Of which Hunter Biden laptop story was included, according to the FBI.”
“I don’t know exactly what you’re looking at, but I am happy to talk about what it is the FBI does and does not do with respect to social-media companies,” Wray said.
Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth was seemingly meeting with the FBI on a weekly basis around the 2020 election, according to the “Twitter Files” released by Twitter CEO Elon Musk in December.
Journalist Matt Taibbi shared a screenshot of Slack messages in which Roth cites a “weekly sync with FBI/DHS/DNI” and a “report from the FBI concerning 2 tweets.” The tweets apparently related to false claims about fraud in the 2020 election.
