FBI imposed Hunter Biden laptop ‘gag order’ after employee accidentally confirmed authenticity: report

Two independent journalists found that the FBI could have set the record straight by confirming the laptop was real and the subject of an ongoing criminal probe. Instead, FBI leadership allowed the false narrative about the laptop to gain momentum.

In a shocking report published on X, independent journalists Catherine Herridge and Michael Shellenberger revealed that an FBI agent accidentally confirmed to Twitter (now known as “X”) that the Hunter Biden laptop story was real less than three weeks before the 2020 election.

“For the first time, and with a change of administration, the FBI has now turned over to GOP House investigators the internal chat messages that show Bureau leadership actively silenced its employees,” Herridge and Shellenberger wrote on X.

“The FBI, which had a special task force to counter foreign election interference, could have set the record straight by confirming the laptop was real and the subject of an ongoing criminal probe,” the journalists explained. “Instead, FBI leadership allowed the false narrative about the laptop to gain momentum.”

“In 2024, an FBI official admitted to House investigators that an FBI employee had inadvertently confirmed the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop to Twitter on a conference call the morning of October 14, 2020, the day the New York Post published a story about it,” Shellenberger wrote.

“I recall that when the question came up, an intelligence analyst assigned to the Criminal Investigative Division said something to the effect of, ‘Yes, the laptop is real,’” testified the then-Russia Unit Chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force in a closed-door transcribed interview,” according to Herridge and Shellenberger. “I believe it was an (Office of General Counsel) attorney assigned to the (Foreign Influence Task Force) stepped in and said, ‘We will not comment further on this topic.’”

They recounted this exchange:

An individual whose name is blacked out, tells Elvis M. Chan, the San Francisco-based FBI special agent tasked with interacting with social media companies, there was a “gag order” on discussion of Hunter Biden’s laptop. In a separate exchange, Chan is told “official response no commen(t).”

In the chat, the FBI officials showed awareness that the laptop may have contained evidence of criminal activity.

Asked Chan, “actually what kind of case is the laptop thing? corruption? campaign financing?”

Another FBI employee responds, “CLOSE HOLD —” after which the response is redacted.

To which Chan responds, “oh crap,” appearing to underscore the serious nature of the probe, which included felony tax charges. Chan adds, “ok. It ends here.”

In the same conversation, Chan is asked if “anyone discussing that NYPost article on the Biden’s?” Chan responds, “yes we are. c d confirmed an active investigation. No further comment.” “C D” is likely shorthand for the FBI’s Criminal Division.

Said another FBI employee, whose name was redacted by the Bureau, “please do not discuss biden matter.”

It’s now common knowledge that national security agencies — including the FBI and CIA, Big Tech, and much of corporate media — colluded in suppressing truth and manufacturing lies in order to drag their preferred candidate, Joe Biden, across the finish line in the 2020 presidential election.

Incriminating evidence discovered on the laptop that Hunter Biden had long ago abandoned at a computer repair shop — reported on in two devastating pieces by the New York Post at the time — was ignored by mainstream media, fraudulently dismissed by former national intelligence officials, and essentially made inaccessible to the public by Big Tech social media sites Twitter and Facebook.

The computer contained emails showing that then-Vice President Biden had come under the influence of bad actors in Ukraine and Communist China and had used his powerful position in the Obama administration to pressure government Ukrainian officials into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the energy firm, Burisma, which was paying the younger Biden $50,000 per month to sit on its board of directors.

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Catherine Herridge

How ‘Woke’ Broke The FB

Published on March 16, 2025

Todayville

Catherine Herridge

We Obtain Internal FBI DEI Guide On Managing Unconscious Bias

TOP LINE

An internal FBI inclusivity “Guide,” obtained by our investigative team, counseled agents on “Ways to Manage Your Unconscious Bias,” “Micro-Inequities” and “How to Improve Your Inclusive Intelligence.”

“The New IQ: Your Guide to Sustaining Inclusive Habits in the Workplace” was widely shared in mid-2020 and includes nine “tips” to counter unconscious bias.

Separately, as part of our investigation, recently retired FBI agents said they saw, firsthand, how law enforcement capabilities were compromised because merit took a backseat to DEI priorities.

They dubbed the legendary FBI Quantico Training Academy the “Participation Academy” because of headquarter’s pressure to “push through” poorly performing candidates to meet their DEI objectives.

The retired agents said FBI Director Patel inherits a workforce where standards dropped impacting physical fitness of agents, their firearms skills as well as professional qualifications, putting the FBI mission and safety at risk.

DEEP DIVE

More than a half dozen recently retired FBI agents agreed to speak with me on a confidential basis. They said they feared retaliation for describing their experiences with the FBI’s DEI initiatives. While fiercely loyal to the bureau, they said they felt compelled to come forward, citing a dangerous reduction in standards that they believe endanger agents and the public.

The group of retired agents was diverse. It included male, female, Asian, Black and White agents from field offices in different parts of the country. Their work experience covered multiple facets of the recruitment and training process. Everyone I spoke with offered a first hand account of DEI’s impact.

FBI DEI Guide Defines “Unconscious Bias”

The retired agents told me they valued diversity because it could strengthen the FBI mission but in recent years, the agents said FBI leadership took the attitude the bureau was “too White.” The decline, they said, began under FBI Director Mueller who made the DC Headquarters his focus. They said it accelerated under FBI Director Comey. They blamed Director Wray for standing by as the “train wreck happened.”

“Ways To Manage Your Unconscious Bias”

I was told that the physical fitness performance of candidates declined. The requirements include timed sit-ups (1 minute), timed 300-m sprint, untimed push-up maximum and timed 1.5 mile run.

The retired agents described recruits who had an “attitude problem.” The recruits would quit the long distance run or claim injuries if they thought they would not pass a requirement. The number of successfully completed push ups was routinely low because many recruits didn’t have the skill or strength to follow the required protocol (i.e bad form, not low enough.)

What I learned about firearms training was also concerning. I was told some recruits lacked the “mental toughness” to competently handle guns. Other candidates had documented mental health issues. While their performance was poor, there was a “push them through Quantico attitude.”

The backbone of FBI investigations is a witness interview summary known as a “302.” In some cases, new agents lacked basic writing skills to complete a 302, in part, because work experience requirements had been relaxed. Once poor performing recruits were “pushed through Quantico,” the hope was that FBI Field Offices would fix them.

While the retired agents said diversity was valuable to the bureau it had taken precedence over merit. They said they looked up to the FBI when they joined and are hopeful Director Patel can restore and reverse this decline.

These retired FBI agents are solution oriented and respectfully asked if Director Patel would be willing to meet with them because they understand where the change needs to happen internally.

Describing how “woke broke the FBI,” one of the agents shared the wrenching personal decision to discourage their child from following in their professional footsteps. Something that would have been inconceivable during most of their time with the Bureau.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson said, ““Director Patel’s new FBI will be an entirely mission focused institution — working every day to get criminals off our streets, keep the American people safe, and let good agents be good agents. We are aggressively working to abide by any Presidential directive to root out politically motivated, social engineering projects — they have zero home here and never will as long as Director Patel is at the helm.”

We are making this exclusive reporting free.

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Catherine Herridge

Return of the Diet Coke Button

Published on January 19, 2025

Todayville

On the eve of Inauguration Day, the time is right to share my personal story about the “Diet Coke” button.

DEEP DIVE

It is a privilege and a tremendous opportunity for a reporter to interview the Commander in Chief. Any journalist who tells you otherwise is bitter because they can’t land the big interview.

I have sat down with President Trump twice. First at Fox News, after the Special Counsel Robert Mueller report was released. The second time, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News.

In advance of interviewing President Trump, I was invited to an informal meeting at the White House. The Oval Office appointment had the tone of a “get to know you session.”

While the meeting was “off the record,” I can tell you that it wasn’t about setting limits on an interview or providing questions which would cross a journalistic redline. I understood from President Trump’s press team that he made the final call on which reporter would conduct the interview.

Sitting across from President Trump, I noticed a red button on the Resolute Desk and my imagination ran wild. “What was it, a nuclear button, a panic button, or a get this reporter out of here button?”’

Source: X realDonaldTrump

I was not the first person to fall into this trap. In his book, “The Chief’s Chief,” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows described his encounter with the Diet Coke button, writing it “seemed like something you might use to launch a nuclear missile, or maybe to order SEAL Team Six into action.”

“I braced for whatever sonic boom, breaking glass, or cloud of smoke I assumed was coming,” Meadows added.

With a keen eye, President Trump saw my curiosity, and leveraged it. He leaned across the desk, and in what seemed a very deliberate manner, he pressed the red button. I nearly jumped out of my seat.

Then to my right, I recall that a butler entered the Oval Office with a silver tray and several tall glasses of Diet Coke. I can’t recall exactly, and it may have been the shock of the red button, but the butler seemed to appear out of nowhere from behind the bookcases.

Commemorative Bottle of Diet Coke

I recall President Trump put his hand next to his mouth, and whispered, “It’s one of the best parts of the job!”

Out of respect for the ground rules, I am not going to say much more about the meeting because it was off the record. As we concluded, President Trump asked if I had ever seen the Lincoln bedroom which, of course, I had not. Then he made some quip about the Clintons and you can fill in the rest.

The CBS interview went ahead in July 2020 in the Rose Garden because of COVID-19 restrictions. The questions were direct. One in particular he described as “a terrible question to ask,” but President Trump still answered each query. With my urging, CBS News released the full, unedited transcript.

Bear that precedent in mind as you consider the lingering controversy over the 60 Minutes Kamala Harris edit.