THE TWITTER FILES: How FBI Primed Execs With "Russian Disinformation" Disinformation Ahead Of Hunter Biden Bombshell In the latest episode of 'THE TWITTER FILES,' journalist Michael Shellenberger reveals "How the FBI & intelligence community discredited factual information about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings both after and *before* The New York Post revealed the contents of his laptop on October 14, 2020." In Twitter Files #7, we present evidence pointing to an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community (IC), aimed at senior executives at news and social media companies, to discredit leaked information about Hunter Biden before and after it was published. — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 Continued... The story begins in December 2019 when a Delaware computer store owner named John Paul (J.P.) Mac Isaac contacts the FBI about a laptop that Hunter Biden had left with him On Dec 9, 2019, the FBI issues a subpoena for, and takes, Hunter Biden's laptop. https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukra... By Aug 2020, Mac Isaac still had not heard back from the FBI, even though he had discovered evidence of criminal activity. And so he emails Rudy Giuliani, who was under FBI surveillance at the time. In early Oct, Giuliani gives it to @nypost Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad Shortly before 7 pm ET on October 13, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, emails JP Mac Isaac. Hunter and Mesires had just learned from the New York Post that its story about the laptop would be published the next day. 7. At 9:22 pm ET (6:22 PT), FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan sends 10 documents to Twitter’s then-Head of Site Integrity, Yoel Roth, through Teleporter, a one-way communications channel from the FBI to Twitter. 8. The next day, October 14, 2020, The New York Post runs its explosive story revealing the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Every single fact in it was accurate. 9. And yet, within hours, Twitter and other social media companies censor the NY Post article, preventing it from spreading and, more importantly, undermining its credibility in the minds of many Americans. Why is that? What, exactly, happened? 10. On Dec 2, @mtaibbi described the debate inside Twitter over its decision to censor a wholly accurate article. Since then, we have discovered new info that points to an organized effort by the intel community to influence Twitter & other platforms 12. And yet, during all of 2020, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly primed Yoel Roth to dismiss reports of Hunter Biden’s laptop as a Russian “hack and leak” operation. This is from a sworn declaration by Roth given in December 2020.https://t.co/IvTjyYw9iR pic.twitter.com/5iq2ATB3bW — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 14. Were the FBI warnings of a Russian hack-and-leak operation relating to Hunter Biden based on *any* new intel? No, they weren't “Through our investigations, we did not see any similar competing intrusions to what had happened in 2016,” admitted FBI agent Elvis Chan in Nov. pic.twitter.com/tFPMqbydbA — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 15. Indeed, Twitter executives *repeatedly* reported very little Russian activity. E.g., on Sept 24, 2020, Twitter told FBI it had removed 345 “largely inactive” accounts “linked to previous coordinated Russian hacking attempts.” They “had little reach & low follower accounts." 17. After FBI asks about a WaPo story on alleged foreign influence in a pro-Trump tweet, Twitter's Roth says, "The article makes a lot of insinuations... but we saw no evidence that that was the case here (and in fact, a lot of strong evidence pointing in the other direction).” pic.twitter.com/jJjnczZnA5 — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 19. Pressure had been growing: “We have seen a sustained (If uncoordinated) effort by the IC [intelligence community] to push us to share more info & change our API policies. They are probing & pushing everywhere they can (including by whispering to congressional staff).” pic.twitter.com/HWeaYdvNqo — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 20. Time and again, FBI asks Twitter for evidence of foreign influence & Twitter responds that they aren’t finding anything worth reporting. “[W]e haven’t yet identified activity that we’d typically refer to you (or even flag as interesting in the foreign influence context).” pic.twitter.com/ghGNz4ZzXB — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 22. Then, in July 2020, the FBI’s Elvis Chan arranges for temporary Top Secret security clearances for Twitter executives so that the FBI can share information about threats to the upcoming elections. pic.twitter.com/YXCR2Guxz5 — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 24. Recently, Yoel Roth told @karaswisher that he had been primed to think about the Russian hacking group APT28 before news of the Hunter Biden laptop came out. When it did, Roth said, "It set off every single one of my finely tuned APT28 hack-and-leap campaign alarm bells." pic.twitter.com/RKoR4NtH1s — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 26. Who is Jim Baker? He's former general counsel of the FBI (2014-18) & one of the most powerful men in the U.S. intel community. Baker has moved in and out of government for 30 years, serving stints at CNN, Bridgewater (a $140 billion asset management firm) and Brookings pic.twitter.com/FggRI2zITX — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 28. Baker wasn't the only senior FBI exec. involved in the Trump investigation to go to Twitter. Dawn Burton, the former dep. chief of staff to FBI head James Comey, who initiated the investigation of Trump, joined Twitter in 2019 as director of strategy. — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 30. Efforts continued to influence Twitter's Yoel Roth. In Sept 2020, Roth participated in an Aspen Institute “tabletop exercise” on a potential "Hack-and-Dump" operation relating to Hunter Biden The goal was to shape how the media covered it — and how social media carried it pic.twitter.com/lQSorONUSh — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 31. The organizer was Vivian Schiller, the fmr CEO of NPR, fmr head of news at Twitter; fmr Gen. mgr of NY Times; fmr Chief Digital Officer of NBC News Attendees included Meta/FB's head of security policy and the top nat. sec. reporters for @nytimes @wapo and others pic.twitter.com/3yO5ZIc2Jy — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 33. Then, on Sept 15, 2020 the FBI’s Laura Dehmlow, who heads up the Foreign Influence Task Force, and Elvis Chan, request to give a classified briefing for Jim Baker, without any other Twitter staff, such as Yoel Roth, present. pic.twitter.com/1uhJ39OYSS — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 35. In response to Roth, Baker repeatedly insists that the Hunter Biden materials were either faked, hacked, or both, and a violation of Twitter policy. Baker does so over email, and in a Google doc, on October 14 and 15. pic.twitter.com/MpQTUj6Esl — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 37. As for the FBI, it likely would have taken a few *hours* for it to confirm that the laptop had belonged to Hunter Biden. Indeed, it only took a few days for journalist @peterschweizer to prove it. pic.twitter.com/eD8uk9lefn — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 39. At 3:38 pm that same day, October 14, Baker arranges a phone conversation with Matthew J. Perry in the Office of the General Counsel of the FBI pic.twitter.com/26ub4A4uKd — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 41. There is evidence that FBI agents have warned elected officials of foreign influence with the primary goal of leaking the information to the news media. This is a political dirty trick used to create the perception of impropriety. — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 43. “The unnecessary FBI briefing provided the Democrats and liberal media the vehicle to spread their false narrative that our work advanced Russian disinformation.” pic.twitter.com/TuUCLNL3Qk — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 45. In the end, the FBI's influence campaign aimed at executives at news media, Twitter, & other social media companies worked: they censored & discredited the Hunter Biden laptop story. By Dec. 2020, Baker and his colleagues even sent a note of thanks to the FBI for its work. pic.twitter.com/ZEASt2aXXm — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 47. And the pressure from the FBI on social media platforms continues In Aug 2022, Twitter execs prepared for a meeting with the FBI, whose goal was “to convince us to produce on more FBI EDRs" EDRs are an “emergency disclosure request,” a warrantless search. pic.twitter.com/sENBIi6zPg — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 Anyone who reads the Twitter Files, regardless of their political orientation, should share those concerns. /END — Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022 And some thoughts from the peanut gallery: Sure looks like Yoel Roth lied when he told Kara Swisher that he was against censoring the Hunter story. He was initially skeptical but then endorsed the idea a couple hours later. https://t.co/0Q45VDNpDr — Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) December 19, 2022 Thankfully the @FBI didn’t let a lack of evidence stop them from spreading their “Russian disinformation” disinformation anyway. https://t.co/Ro6nM404Ww — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 19, 2022 Matter of fact, why did Yoel Roth crack down on the relatively few Russian bots but do nothing about the millions more Ukrainian bots? Did Yoel Roth & the Gov run a psyop on the American people? To gain approval and $$$ from us? Thread:https://t.co/S5n8b6DXhP — Sam Parker 🇺🇲 (@SamParkerSenate) December 19, 2022