Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower Gary Shapley confirmed in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) knew Hunter Biden’s laptop was authentic as far back as November 2019.
“In October 2019, the FBI became aware that a repair shop had a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden and that the laptop might contain evidence of a crime. The FBI verified its authenticity in November of 2019 by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID,” Shapley told the Ways and Means Committee on May 26.
The FBI verified that Hunter Biden’s laptop was authentic in December 2019, nearly a year before the CIA and FBI told social media companies to censor coverage of it, claiming it was a Russian hoax. Federal investigators reviewed the laptop and believed it contained evidence of… https://t.co/44DLmPOZ1e pic.twitter.com/3waP0sPWhb
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 22, 2023
His testimony confirms the account of Twitter Files reporter Michael Shellenberger, who told then-Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson in December 2022 that the FBI knew the laptop was authentic. (RELATED: First Amendment Advocates Sound Alarm Over FBI Meeting With Twitter Ahead Of Hunter Biden Laptop Censorship)
The Bureau did not publicly confirm the authenticity of the laptop, and instructed social media platforms on identifying “misinformation” coming from hostile countries in the run-up to the 2020 election. Twitter executives who made the decision to ban the New York Post’s story about the laptop interacted at length with FBI officials. Former Twitter integrity chief Yoel Roth declared to the Federal Election Commission that FBI officials participated in a meeting where they warned site officials that Hunter Biden might be the target of a “hack-and-leak” operation.
Hunter Biden was already under IRS investigation for his alleged involvement in an overseas pornography platform, Shapley told the Ways and Means Committee. After verifying the laptop, the FBI then informed the IRS that the laptop contained potential evidence of tax crimes, according to the testimony.
Through his attorneys, Shapley first contacted Congress in April. He alleged that law enforcement officials were slow-walking investigations into Hunter Biden. He and another whistleblower contradicted congressional testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland and IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, who told lawmakers that Biden would not receive special treatment and that whistleblowers would not face retaliation.
