By Kerry Picket
Rep. Darrell Issa sent document preservation notices to the White House, Facebook, Twitter and members of the intelligence community who he said were involved with coordinating the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story before the November 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Issa said “collusion” in the news media blackout and accusations that it was a Russian information campaign with the laptop belonging to President Biden’s son surfaced during the 2020 campaign with a trove of data about Hunter Biden’s far-flung and questionable business dealings.
“There’s no question that Big Tech colluded with some of the nation’s most powerful media and most influential Democrat partisans in the intelligence community to suppress the truth, censor fact-based journalism, and shelter the Biden family from political and legal scrutiny,” the California Republican said in a statement. “We will ensure that the truth is revealed and that those associated with corruption and collusion are held accountable.”
Mr. Issa, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee’s panel on intellectual property and the internet, cast a wide net with his requests.
He sent 12 preservation document request letters on Friday to Facebook/Meta Chairman CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook/Meta Policy Communications Director Andy Stone, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Block CEO Jack Dorsey, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, Former CIA Director John O. Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, former CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and former CIA Deputy Chief of Staff Nick Shapiro.
Former intelligence officials who doubted the authenticity of the Hunter Biden computer in 2020 insist that, based on their experience and the evidence available at the time, the laptop was consistent with Russian disinformation campaigns.
In his letters, Mr. Issa calls for “all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that is or may be potentially responsive to this congressional inquiry.”
It would include electronic messages about the determined topic that are sent using official and personal accounts or devices, including records created using text messages and phone-based message applications on encryption software.
Hunter Biden returned to the media spotlight recently with reports that he was still under federal investigation over his foreign business dealings and tax debt. The New York Times reported that it had verified the authenticity of the emails and other documents on the laptop, which The New York Post first reported in October 2020.
Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/mar/28/issa-preps-investigation-big-tech-suppression-hunt/