Sen. Johnson: FBI Slow-Walked Hunter Biden Laptop Investigation
According to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, new whistleblower claims have alleged that FBI officials obstructed investigations into Hunter Biden's laptop prior to the 2020 presidential election, saying they were "not going to change the outcome of the election again."
Facts
- According to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, new whistleblower claims have alleged that FBI officials obstructed investigations into Hunter Biden's laptop prior to the 2020 presidential election, saying they were "not going to change the outcome of the election again."
- Johnson, in a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Wed., stated that due to "numerous credible whistleblower disclosures" the FBI "could not be trusted" to deal with Hunter Biden's laptop.
- Johnson originally asked Horowitz to investigate the laptop on Oct. 21, 2020, but he declined, citing an ongoing US Attorney's investigation into Hunter Biden's tax affairs.
- The news comes as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also admitted, on Joe Rogan's podcast, that Facebook suppressed stories on Pres. Joe Biden's son based on FBI misinformation warnings. While he said they weren't warned about the laptop story specifically, it seemed to "fit that pattern."
- In light of Zuckerberg's comments, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused the FBI and Big Tech of "an attempt to control your access to information" and promised to hold them "accountable."
- The FBI has faced intense scrutiny from the right over the past several weeks, with the continued allegations surrounding Hunter Biden's laptop adding to the controversy surrounding the FBI's raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
Sources: Daily Signal, Newsweek, BBC News, New York Post, and FOX News.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by Daily Caller. If these allegations are true, the FBI will lose whatever little faith Americans still had in the institution. Beyond showing judicial favoritism for a sitting president's son, this news shows the lengths to which many high-level government officials went to shield Biden from bad publicity in 2020 and help his election campaign.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. The right is trying to turn a story about Hunter Biden into one about his father. Besides the obvious fact that these are two completely separate individuals, the case against Hunter may never even come to fruition. Whether charges are brought or not, we should remember that this is a story about Hunter, not the president.
- Narrative C, as provided by The Washington Post. According to a YouGov-Economist poll, 61% of Democrats think it's at least somewhat important to investigate Hunter Biden. While the right has done a good job of making this seem like a partisan issue, the reality is that most Americans are united in wanting the truth surrounding this story.
