Congress wants FBI official who said Hunter Biden laptop was 'real' to speak

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are looking to hear from a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) analyst who confirmed that Hunter Biden's infamous laptop was the real deal. 

The New York Post reports that the House Judiciary Committee - led by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), sent a letter to the FBI on Thursday seeking an interview with the analyst.

At the time of this writing, there has yet to be a response from the FBI.

First, we'll look at the backstory to all of this, and, then, we'll look at the letter that Jordan sent to the analyst.

Background

It is not an exaggeration to say that Hunter Biden's laptop changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

It was in the weeks leading up to that election that the New York Post published a bombshell report on some of the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop.

The report, however, was quickly censored on social media, and the mainstream media claimed it was "Russian disinformation." Their sources for this, in part, were 51 intelligence officials, who, at the behest of then-candidate Joe Biden's campaign, signed a letter insisting that the laptop was "Russian disinformation."

It, however, was not "Russian disinformation," and U.S. intelligence knew that it was not. Not only that, but the FBI analyst referred to at the outset told Twitter's content moderators that it was genuine. This, of course, did not stop Twitter from censoring the report.

Polls from after the 2020 election have consistently indicated that many individual who voted for Biden would have voted for former President Donald Trump had they known the laptop was the real deal. And, the polls would suggest that this would have given Trump the win.

Fast forward to 2024

The situation with Hunter Biden's laptop - and the way reporting about it was suppressed - is still being investigated. Jordan's committee is one that is looking to get to the bottom of the situation, which is why it is looking to speak with the FBI analyst.

Jordan, in his letter, writes:

Even though the FBI had been in possession of this laptop for nearly a year and had verified the provenance of its contents, the FBI made the institutional decision to refuse to answer direct questions from social media companies about the laptop’s authenticity—despite months of constant information sharing up to that time.

This is not the end of the story, though.

Jordan continues:

Put simply, after the FBI conditioned social media companies to believe that the laptop was the product of a foreign malign influence operation, the FBI stopped its information sharing, allowing social media companies to censor the New York Post story on the incorrect basis that it was Russian disinformation.

Jordan is now waiting to see whether the FBI analyst will speak with his committee.