Republicans Plan to Investigate Hunter Biden Laptop Story: Issa

Hunter Biden walks to Marine One on the Ellipse outside the White House on May 22, 2021. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said he will lead an effort to investigate the 2020 election-related suppression of news coverage about Hunter Biden’s laptop and its contents if Republicans win back the majority in the House of Representatives later this year.

“Big Tech will resist accountability like it always does—but we are more determined than ever to make certain that we get the truth of the collusion that we know occurred,” Issa said in a statement to news outlets last week. “We should carry with us an obligation to see this through.”

The lawmaker told The Hill that he’s already sent record and document preservation requests to several tech company executives, White House aides, and former intelligence officials in connection with the initial New York Post story about the laptop belonging to President Joe Biden’s son.

Just days before the 2020 election, Facebook and Twitter both moved to block the spread of the Post’s story, drawing condemnation from the newspaper’s editors and Republican elected officials. Twitter, for example, barred anyone from posting or sharing the article, alleging that it contained “hacked material” and locked the Post out of its account for two weeks.

Then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later conceded that Twitter’s suppression of the report was a “total mistake,” although he didn’t say who made the decision.

The Post’s report, published in October 2020, said that emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop showed there was a meeting between Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Ukrainian business leaders. While The New York Times and other legacy media outlets and some former intelligence officials initially alleged it was disinformation designed to sway the election, earlier this month, the NY Times stated that the laptop and its contents were authentic.

During one of the presidential debates, former President Donald Trump repeatedly brought up the younger Biden’s laptop and insinuated that the elder Biden was involved in allegedly shady dealings overseas. Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, then came forward in October 2020 and said Joe Biden was the “big guy” referenced in purported proposed payout packages and equity shares in a Biden venture with a Chinese energy conglomerate.

Hunter Biden and President Biden have both said that the younger Biden didn’t do anything wrong.

Issa told The Hill that he sent preservation requests to former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and other executives regarding the suppression of the Post’s report.

“Material investigation is essential for Congress to conduct a comprehensive fact-finding investigation into actions by technology companies, media organizations, and political allies to suppress information and prevent public awareness of matters involving the Biden Family,” Issa wrote, according to The Hill.

The White House often declines to comment on developments regarding Hunter Biden, saying that he doesn’t work for the federal government.

White House officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.