In the House Judiciary Committee today, Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida asked FBI Assistant Director of the Cyber Division Bryan Vorndran if the Hunter Biden laptop that the FBI has possession of contains security vulnerabilities for the United States.
If Vorndran knows the disposition of Hunter Biden’s laptop, he sure wasn’t telling.
Gaetz then entered into the committee record what he said is a copy of the contents of Hunter’s Biden’s laptop and a receipt from Mac’s Computer Repair, which shows the FBI took possession of the laptop in December of 2019.
The move by Gaetz was reminiscent of the late Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who in 1971 famously read into the Congressional Record 4,100 pages of the 7,000-page document that became known as the “Pentagon Papers,” stolen reports from the Pentagon and the RAND Corporation, which revealed the nation’s early involvement in Vietnam, before it became openly involved in the Vietnam War. Gravel was credited with an official move that allowed newspapers such as the New York Times to publish the contents of the Pentagon Papers, since they were now part of the Congressional Record. The Times published the first installment on June 18, 1971. The Washington Post followed.
In today’s media environment, it’s doubtful the mainstream media will request copies of the laptop and reveal to the public what is on it. The mainstream media spent months disparaging the story and calling it Russian disinformation.
Vorndran, in answering Gaetz’ questions, said he doesn’t know the location of the laptop that the FBI seized from the repair shop, or whether actors such as Russia had used the laptop’s contents to compromise the Biden family. Hunter Biden was involved in business dealings in Ukraine, China, and elsewhere around the world while his father was Vice President, making millions of dollars from his ability to access powerful decision makers and set things in motion in the Obama Administration.
“Who has it?” Gaetz asked Vorndran.
“I don’t know who has it,” Vorndran replied.
Gaetz expressed he was concerned that the laptop could have been used to blackmail the president.
The mainstream media has not only ignored the story, but has disparaged those reporting on it. The New York Post was almost alone in reporting problems with the laptop and national security, and was widely criticized by other media. The New York Post wrote that “information gatekeepers scrambled to keep this story from polluting the mainstream’s pristine infoscape,” as the media labeled the story “Russian disinformation.” Twitter banned the New York Post account over the story prior to the 2020 elections.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff called the laptop story a “smear.” After the report about the contents came out in the New York Post, 51 former intelligence officials discredited it, saying it was Russian disinformation.
Today, even the far-left New York Times has admitted the validity of the story, which links Hunter Biden to the Ukrainian firm Burisma, where he was being paid $50,000 a month as a board member, all the while his father was Vice President of the United States. He had no particular qualifications, other than being a coke-head.
“How are Americans supposed to trust that you can protect us from the next Colonial pipeline [ransomware hacker breach] if it seems you can’t locate a laptop that was given to you three years ago from the First Family, potentially creating vulnerabilities for our country?,” Gaetz asked the witness on Tuesday.
In his answer, Vorndran used the exact words that former FBI Director Robert Mueller said to the Judiciary Committee when dismissing Democratic National Committee ties to the “Steele Dossier.” Vorndran said Hunter Biden’s laptop was not in his “purview.”
Gaetz also said the laptop could contain international business deals, kickbacks, and shakedowns that would allow foreign adversaries to compromise the president.
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Democrat Jerry Nadler was befuddled about how to block the surprise move. “I’m not –” and then he paused as an aide leaned over him, discussing the matter animatedly. Another lawmaker could be heard saying, “There’s no objection to that.”
“I will object, pending further investigation,” Nadler then said.
“What’s the basis of that objection?” Gaetz asked.
“It’s a unanimous consent request and I object, pending further investigation,” Nadler replied. “It may very well be entered into the record after we have a chance to look at it further.”
There was a pause in the proceedings, after which Gaetz was allowed to enter the item into the record. It’s unclear if what was on that handheld hard drive is the actual contents of the Biden laptop.
