FBI gagged worker who tried to warn Twitter Hunter Biden laptop story was real: House Judiciary

On October 14, 2020, the day the report came out, the FBI told employees, "do not discuss [the] Biden matter." A separate message said that an FBI analyst who had told Twitter that the story was real had a "gag order" placed on them by a senior FBI lawyer.

The analyst had been "admonished" by FBI staff, with staff writing in the chat that "he wont (sic) shut up."

Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official with the bureau’s foreign influence task force, testified in a closed-door deposition in 2023 that an analyst had confirmed in a call with Twitter that the laptop was real, but an attorney for the FBI cut in and said that the agency did not want to give any information regarding "the laptop's provenance."

"Somebody from Twitter essentially asked whether the laptop was real," Dehmlow testified, "and one of the FBI folks who was on the call did confirm that, 'yes, it was,' before another participant jumped in and said, 'no further comment.'"

"Following the meeting with Twitter, FBI personnel immediately deliberated internally about what information about the laptop the FBI would reveal to social media companies when asked in upcoming meetings," a report issued by Chair Jim Jordan stated.

During the testimony, Dehmlow also admitted that the FBI knew the laptop was authentic as far back as November 2019.

Since then, President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances for the former intelligence officials who signed on to a letter claiming that the laptop was Russian disinformation. He has also ordered agencies to bar those former officials from setting foot in secure facilities.