IRS Whistleblower Gary Shapley, CBS Evening News
Months before 51 intelligence experts, the media and Joe Biden claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop was nothing but Russian disinformation, the FBI had authenticated the device and had expressed confidence that its contents had not been manipulated in any way, according to a new IRS investigative memo.
According to IRS Supervisory Criminal Investigative Agent and now whistleblower Gary Shapley, who penned a memo in October 2020, “we have no reason to believe there is anything fabricated nefariously on the computer and or hard drive” and that “there are emails and other items that corroborate the items on the laptop and hard drive”.
The memo provided a chonology of how the FBI validated the laptop as having belonged to Hunter Biden as early as November 2019 and that by spring 2020 it was analyzing its contents.
“The whole discussion was about: Can we rely on this information on the laptop, is it Hunter Biden’s? And their opinion was, it was, and it was not manipulated in any way,” IRS Whistleblower Gary Shapley told The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.
A congressional lawyer then asked Shapley if there was reliable evidence and Shapley replied “That is correct”.
This latest report collaborates claims by Just the New and right leaning media companies that the laptop was indeed Hunter Biden’s but the mainstream media, FBI and Joe Biden himself all dismissed the claims and dismissed any talk about the laptop as being “Russian disinformation”. Big Tech platforms such as Twitter even restricted the New York Post from reporting on the story.
It turns out that the laptop wasn’t Russian disinformation and the FBI knew that as early as November 2019, according Shapley.
“The FBI verified its authenticity in November of 2019 by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID,” he explained.
“When the FBI took possession of the device in December 2019, they notified the IRS that it likely contained evidence of tax crimes,” Shapley also stated. Shapley noted that the IRS drafted the search warrant to take formal possession of the device.
Ex-acting CIA Director Mike Morell has admitted in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that he organized the letter from the 51 intel experts after being contacted by now Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
In April, Morell admitted that he had two goals in mind when he signed this letter. “There were two intents. One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue; and, two, it was [to] help Vice President Biden,” Morrell testified.
“You wanted to help the Vice President? Why?” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan asked.
“Because I wanted him to win the election,” Morrell testified.
Morrell also claimed that prior to the phone call with Blinken, he had no intent to write the letter.
The letter was signed in October 2020 by 51 intelligence officials, “warning” that the New York Posts’ story on Hunter’s laptop “sounds like disinformation”.
“If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this,” the signers added.
Included in these 51 officials were Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, John Brennan, former CIA director and Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence.
John Brennan has also admitted that the letter ‘was political.’
