Two former FBI officers involved in efforts to end "malign foreign influence" in elections have been arrested and charged with lying to Congress about the veracity of the Hunter Biden laptop.
And, not to make this personal, but it's about time some people were put in handcuffs for all the harm they've done.
Two former senior FBI officials publicly characterized the laptop — filled with multiple violations of federal and state laws — as part of a Russia! Russia! Russia! operation, in hopes of harming President Donald Trump during the 2020 election.
The FBI, in fact, knew it was real, and instead of coming clean about it, told Congressional committees in testimony that it had no idea about the existence of the Biden laptop before the 2020 election.
Nikki Floris was deputy assistant director of the FBI's since-disbanded "Foreign Influence Task Force" (FITF), and bragged in documents about running what was tantamount to a "shadow government," in an effort to pull levers of government without the consent of the Trump administration.
Her underling, Bradley Benavides, ran the FITF.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release that "evidence shows that Floris discussed the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden routinely for more than a year both within the FITF and with others in the FBI."
Benavides told Congressional committees that he had heard nothing about the Hunter Biden laptop until he read about it in Wikipedia.
"Floris led the FITF as a Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was the FIFT Section Chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election," DOJ officials pointed out.
Released documents have confirmed that the FBI had been in receipt of the Hunter Biden laptop since 2019.
Both have been charged with lying, and their statements were "contradicted by documentary evidence, communications, and witness accounts and concerned matters directly relevant to the congressional investigation."
"Floris and Benavides each were charged with making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). The charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force, or FITF, which led the FBI’s efforts to secure the 2020 election from foreign malign influence." Instead, the two appear to have been securing the election for Joe Biden.
The notorious FITF operation included "pre-bunking" the Hunter Biden laptop story before the public knew of its existence. The pre-bunking called on social media companies to censor, throttle, dismiss, and shadow-ban news outlets such as PJ Media that published reports about it. The New York Post, which broke the story, was temporarily BANNED on social media for publishing the story.
Social media censorship put many of these conservative news sites on the fiscal ropes as a result.
The harm done to conservative news websites and conservative influencers is impossible to overstate and calculate.
These two were in charge.
The House Judiciary reported in 2024 that the FITF was involved in calling for the censorship of anyone on social media talking about the Biden laptop.
FITF participated in meetings warning social-media companies about possible Russian hack-and-leak operations. Internal platform records reproduced in a 2024 House Judiciary Republican staff report describe warnings specifically involving the Biden family, Ukraine and Burisma—not merely generic warnings about election interference.
The intentional misinformation campaign also resulted in "51 spies who lied" letter that former intelligence community officials signed and that Biden campaign officials, including Tony Blinken, fronted.
The letter was pitched as a way to give Biden a talking point in a 2020 debate against President Trump.
Blinken later became Biden's disastrous secretary of state.
Current FBI Director Kash Patel said, "One of these individuals is on record privately claiming to be ‘running a shadow government’ during the 2020 election." "As we’ve said repeatedly: weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI. We have already dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad that engaged in political weaponization targeting their opponents, including President Trump — and anyone who abuses their position of public trust will be held accountable,” he said.
The District of Columbia U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, said these people broke trust with the country.
Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system, but when senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it’s time to bring the hammer of justice down on them. When senior officials entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s security choose deception over duty, they undermine the very institutions they swore to uphold. Today’s action makes clear that no one is above the law, and we will hold accountable all who obstruct the truth.
It was in weekly FBI meetings with social media companies, including Twitter, that we learned in the Twitter Files documents (thank you, Elon Musk) that the FBI confirmed the authenticity of the Biden laptop early on.
The charging documents state that "FBI Baltimore obtained the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop on December 9, 2019, from a computer repair shop where Hunter Biden had left it and subsequently searched it as part of its investigations."
The American public was spoon-fed an information operation in an effort to pull off a coup against a sitting president, Donald Trump. Now, finally, someone has been arrested for it.
I hope they start talking.
The Biden family silenced and sued the man who put out the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop, Garrett Ziegler. His Report on the Hunter Biden Laptop highlighted hundreds of laws broken, payoffs, and all manner of shadiness on the part of the Biden family.
I spoke with Ziegler recently on the Adult in the Room Podcast, after he was finally allowed to speak.