Newly released FBI files reveal that Bureau leadership imposed a “gag order” on texts from an analyst who confirmed the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop to Twitter on October 14, 2020 – the same day The New York Post first published its explosive story.
“Please do not discuss biden matter,” an FBI employee ordered through internal messages obtained by House investigators, according to documents just released by the House Judiciary Committee.
Laura Dehmlow, an official with the FBI’s foreign influence task force, testified that during a call with Twitter, an intelligence analyst confirmed the laptop was real before an FBI attorney stepped in to halt further comment.
“I recall that when the question came up, an intelligence analyst assigned to the Criminal Investigative Division said something to the effect of, ‘Yes, the laptop is real,'” Dehmlow told House investigators in a closed-door interview. “I believe it was an (Office of General Counsel) attorney assigned to the (Foreign Influence Task Force) stepped in and said, ‘We will not comment further on this topic.'”
The chat logs show FBI Special Agent Elvis M. Chan, who was tasked with interacting with social media companies, being informed about the “gag order” on any discussion of Hunter Biden’s laptop. When Chan asked about the nature of the case, writing “actually what kind of case is the laptop thing? corruption? campaign financing?” another FBI employee responded “CLOSE HOLD —” followed by a redaction.
Chan’s reaction – “oh crap” followed by “ok. It ends here” – shows the serious nature of the cover-up, which later included felony tax charges against the president’s son.
The FBI verified Hunter Biden’s laptop in late 2019 by cross-referencing the device’s serial number to Biden’s iCloud storage, according to testimony from FBI special agent Erica Jensen at Hunter Biden’s gun trial. IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley provided the same account to Congress in 2023.
Despite this internal verification, Twitter, Facebook, NPR, PBS, and most of the mainstream media censored The New York Post’s reporting after the FBI and other government agencies had spent months preparing to suppress potential “hack and leak” misinformation ahead of the 2020 election.
An FBI staffer lamented in the chats that the analyst who confirmed the laptop’s authenticity “wont [sic] shut up” despite instructions, the messages show. After the analyst spoke up during the Twitter meeting, they were “admonished” by FBI staff.
IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, who served as case agent on the Hunter Biden probe, later told investigators they were ordered to be quiet when asked if the laptop was real.
“There were a lot of overt investigative steps that we were not allowed to take because we had an upcoming election,” he said. “And it related to the president’s son. So, not even the candidate.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since admitted Facebook was wrong to suppress the Post’s reporting on the Biden laptop. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, later released the “Twitter Files,” revealing how the platform’s previous leadership decided to censor the story.
Then-President Joe Biden pardoned his son in December before his sentencing dates for federal gun and tax crimes. Hunter Biden was convicted in Delaware last June on gun charges and pleaded guilty in California to tax fraud charges in September.
The Trump administration recently promoted IRS whistleblowers Shapley and Ziegler to senior adviser positions after they reportedly faced retaliation within the IRS for coming forward with allegations of misconduct by IRS and DOJ officials throughout the tax investigation.