Ron Johnson Makes Case Against Hunter Biden, Showcases Bank Records | 2022 Rewind

Republican Senator Ron Johnson repeatedly alleged wrongdoing by the president's son Hunter Biden during the past year taking to the senate floor the Wisconsin Republican has detailed the alleged Shady business deals many of them International engaged in by the younger Biden while his father was vice president Republicans have long claimed that Hunter Biden as well as the president's brother James and potentially Joe Biden himself have engaged in corrupt Behavior Hunter bind has admitted to past struggles with substance abuse but has steadfastly claimed that he has never engaged in proper business dealings his father has long stood by his side as well Senator Johnson to provide additional examples of the media's attack last Congress I yield the floor thanks Senator Grassley I first want to thank the senior center from the state of Iowa for his tenacity in pursuing the truth and ignoring all the false attacks leveled against us during the course of our multi-year investigations into corruption at the highest levels of the federal government both of us spent both of us have been first-hand Witnesses and at the same time victims of the dishonesty of our Democrat Senate colleagues and their willing accomplices in the media when it comes to our investigation into the vast web of foreign Financial entanglements of the Biden family those attacks have had one goal in mind to cover up the extent to which President Biden might be and almost certainly is compromised over the course of our investigation into how Hunter Biden used his father's position and name to enrich himself and his family the dishonest press published countless stories reporting on the Democrats false charge the senator Grassley and I were soliciting and disseminating Russian disinformation once we issued our September and November 2020 reports which were based almost exclusively on U.S Source documents and interviews with U.S citizens the media largely ignored it when they did write a story they declared that our reports found nothing new a classic media cover-up I've always said the bias in the media has revealed far more in what they don't report than what they actually do report but all the false attacks did not deter us we have continued to under cover the truth and fortunately our reports also served as a catalyst for others to come forward and for more investigative journalists to keep digging the American people deserve the truth that's why we're presenting additional evidence today and over the next few days for example this is the first time this document is being made public as Senator Grassley described in detail it shows that money from cefc which effectively which is effectively an arm of the Chinese government went directly to Hunter Biden bank records like this piece of evidence are pretty hard to deny and sweep under the rug our reports were chock full of irrefutable evidence like this and yet the media buried those details in attempt in an attempt to keep it hidden from the American people because the mainstream media and our Democrat colleagues had no substance to refute our reports they reverted to their time-honored tradition of lying making false accusations against us and engaging the politics of personal destruction again their goal is to destroy the credibility of our reports before the American people even had a chance to read them they were fully aware that the LIE can travel halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to prize your shoes for example listen to what New York Times journalist Nicholas fandos said about our report quote lack of meaningful new information unquote and again quote overlap with the Russian disinformation campaign unquote the then Democrat minority leader was quoted saying about a report quote as if Putin wrote it not United States senators a Democrat soon described our investigation as being quote rooted in disinformation end quote from Russian operatives separately a Democrat Senator also said about a report quote bottom line the Johnson Grassley investigation is baseless it is laundering Russian propaganda for circulation in the U.S unquote but of course all those quotes were disinformation disinformation designed to distract all of us from the truth the center Grassley reiterated our reports were based almost exclusively on government records from the Obama Administration and transcribed interviews of government officials so how do the Democrats and the liberal media allies carry out this false attack on us we describe part of what they did in section 10 of our September 2020 report their disinformation and smear campaign against us and our reports was extensive but in the interest of time I'll give you a shorter Cliff Notes version on July 13 2020 then minority leader Schumer Senator Warner speaker Pelosi and representative Schiff sent a letter to the FBI to express a purported belief that Congress was the subject of a foreign disinformation campaign the letter included a classified attachment that had unclassified elements that attempted to tie Center grassleys in my work to Andre durkash a Russian agent the Democrats speculated that based on this unclassified information Senator grass St I had received materials from durkash this was false nothing could be further from the truth but this information reportedly linking Senator Grassley and I to dirkhosh was leaked to liberal media Outlets to start a false narrative to smear us until news reports of this false allegation surfaced I had never even heard of Andre durkhash we immediately and forcefully denied the false allegation but Democrats and the media continued to spread the LIE to this day no one has ever apologized to either us for spraying that lie even though it has proven conclusively to be a lie and disinformation next my staff and Senator Grassley staff did a transcribed interview with George Kent during that interview Democrat staff members introduced der kosh's materials into our record then Democrat staff members asked Mr Ken about it he stated quote what are you asked me to interpret is a master chart of disinformation and malign influence that's Mr Kent's evaluation the derkosh disinformation that Democrats were spreading that they entered into our record so the actual truth of the matter is that Democrats not Senator grassling or I introduced known Russian disinformation into our investigatory record they did the exact same they did the exact thing they were falsely accusing us of doing again not my staff not Senator Grassley staff Democrats were dissemiting Russian disinformation just like they did with a steel dossier then ranking members Wyden and Peters sent me and Sandra Grassley a letter asking for an intelligence briefing relating to our investigation now such a brief thing was com briefing was completely unnecessary but it was an effort by our Democrat colleagues to further falsely taint our investigate and get investigation hoping to discredit it and discredit the truth on July 28 2020 Senator Grassley and I reminded them that the FBI and relevant members of the intelligence Community had already briefed the Committees in March of 2020 and assured us that there was no reason to discontinue our investigation then in August 2020 Senator Grassley and I were provided a briefing from the FBI a briefing that we did not request that it was also leaked to the press to further smear us this unsolicited FBI briefing was also not necessary and was completely irrelevant to the substance of our investigation the FBI the FBI briefers did tell us that they weren't there to quote quash curtail or interfere unquote in our investigation in any way no government entity ever warned us that our investigation into the Biden family's Financial deals was connected to any kind of Russian disinformation campaign because it wasn't but again the substance of that FBI briefing was later leaked and contorted to smear us which was exactly why we suspect we were given the unsolicited briefing in the first place those briefers promised confidentiality clearly that confidentiality was breached and resulted in another smear operation on Senator Grassley and I to deflect allegations of corruption and conflict of interest that could compromise a President Biden to date we do not who always involve we do not know who all was involved in this smear campaign but even after repeated requests director Ray and director Haynes have refused to come in and fully explain who requested and directed this briefing and why it was provided I think we know why it was provided so to review senior Democrats and liberal media cooperated to submit to smear me and Senator Grassley with false accusations of receiving and spreading Russian disinformation they created documents leaked them asked for briefings and then leaked those two and then they themselves disseminated Russian disinformation you can't make this up fortunately they failed to discredit our investigation because we stayed true to government records we stayed true to the facts and the evidence and the evidence is stunning and it is growing over the next few days Senator grass and I will come to the floor to present additional evidence this has not yet been made public these records show extensive connections between the Biden family and elements of the Communist Chinese regime we're talking high dollar transactions some of which we've already highlighted in our September and November 2020 reports but our speeches will introduce new financial documents into the record for all to see now we expect Democrats in the media to continue to continue to use their power to smear us and cover up for the bidens but the truth has a power of its own and we intend to continue to reveal the truth Madam president are you the floor because my colleague the senior center from Iowa has shown Hunter Biden and James Biden received millions of dollars from companies connected to the Communist Chinese regime but frankly it's worse than that these companies were effectively in arm of the Chinese government this isn't Russian disinformation these are hard facts backed up by bank records of actual Financial records and transactions that prove just how connected the bidens were and how compromised President Biden probably is I use this next series of transactions to prove my point the first chart here shows a bank record showing a one million dollar wire transfer into the account of Hudson West 3 from cefc Limited on November 2nd 2017. the senator Grassley and I have already established cefc is effectively in arm of the Communist Chinese regime is also important to note that the time of this transfer in November 2017 Hunter Biden was already invested in and providing management for Hudson West III so a company that was effectively in arm of the Chinese government transferred one million dollars in November 2017 to accompany that Hunter Biden is managing and is invested in I'll just bring up the second record folks on the one million dollar wire out on March 22nd 2018. again this is a record from Hudson West 3's bank account like the previous record this is showing the transfer of one million dollars but this time the money is being transferred out of Hudson West 3 to Owasco another one of Hunter Biden's firms this transfer took place on March 22nd 2018 a little less than five months after the one million dollar transfer from cefc to Hudson West 3. Hunters transferring 1 million dollars between two firms he manages and has ownership in so what is what is the purpose of these two one million dollar transfers this next record seems to answer that question this record shows owasco's receipt of the March 22 2018 1 million dollar transfer it also shows what the transfer is for on the Obi line Obi is an abbreviation for originating beneficiary information it's like the memo line on your personal check tells you really what that check was about in this case the Obi indicates the transfers be made for quote Dr Patrick Ho Chi ping representation unquote so recap on November 2nd 2017 Patrick Hose Company cefc wired one million dollars to Hunter Biden's company Hudson West 3. our March 22nd 2018 Hudson West 3 wired one million dollars to Owasco another Hunter Biden company the bank record clearly states the one million dollar payment was being made for the purpose of representing Patrick ho represent him for what here's where things get interesting we know that Patrick Hosey rested arrested by U.S authorities in November 2017 for international bribery a money and money laundering charges keep in mind that this arrest occurred in the same month the Patrick host company cefc is wiring one million dollars to Hunter Biden's company Hudson West three according to the Department of Justice quote whole orchestrated and executed two bribery schemes to pay top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for cefc China a shanghai-based multi-billion dollar conglomerate conglomerate that operates in multiple sectors including oil gas and banking end quote these are crimes for which Patrick hose eventually convicted and sent to federal prison for committing so the company that Patrick ho is making bribes for sends one million dollars to a company Hunter Biden manages and is invested in that company in turn transfers a million dollars to another Hunter Biden company for the purposes of representing Patrick ho who was eventually convicted of internationally bribery and money laundering and guess what Patrick ho did around the same time he's arrested by the FBI for corruption by bribery he contacted James Biden President Biden's brother decision to call the fighting family around the same time he got arrested is revealing particularly in light of the fact that the same month a million dollars just happened to be transferred to Hunter Biden's company now Hunter Biden isn't a criminal attorney criminal defense attorney Patrick ho was charged and convicted for bribery bribery and related Federal offenses and crimes so what kind of representation was Patrick Ho's company paying Hunter Biden's firm to provide were they paying for his firms legal expertise or for hunters political connections in March 2021 Senator Grassley and I asked the justice department about Patrick ho why because they fed there's a federal court filing that says the department has Pfizer records on Patrick ho we requested these records in response the department would not confirm whether they even had his records unfortunately the Attorney General refused to clarify that outrageous contradiction for Congress oh and one more tidbit in a recently uncovered audio extracted from his laptop Hunter Biden referred to Patrick hoa's quote this the expleted deleted spy chief of China unquote let that sink in a minute 100 Biden referred to Patrick ho in an audio as the quote expletive deleted spy chief of China unquote this court alone tells you that Hunter Biden knew exactly who he was dealing with he knew exactly who he is dealing with he was dealing with the quote expert deleted spy chief of China now that that now that fact should alert the media and our Democrat colleagues to seriously consider the implications the Biden family's vast web of foreign Financial entanglements having the conduct of this administration's foreign policy in our national security but I'm not holding my breath in October 2020 Senator grass and I requested to interview hunter in James Biden about their financial dealings if they had nothing to hide they could have volunteered to come in and sit for an interview if there was an innocent explanation for these foreign Financial transactions they could have used that interview to clarify what those transactions were about unfortunately rather being transparent honest and forthcoming they declined to speak for us or to us there's silence speaks volumes fortunately facts are stubborn things as the bidens are democratic colleagues and the media is learning is difficult to keep them hidden forever Senator Grassley and I will continue to investigate the buying families foreign financial entanglements and provide the American people with the truth to the best of our ability our challenge is the Deep state does not give up its Secrets easily new evidence of Biden family influence peddling is surfacing on a regular basis often coming from records from Hunter Biden's laptop the same laptop by the way that the media in deep State Foreign intelligence agency officials inferred strongly inferred was you guessed it Russian disinformation and their guile worked prior to the election people bought the fact that that laptop was probably Russian disinformation it wasn't as New York Times just admitted admitted about a year too late more than a year too late that laptop is authentic and the evidence it is producing is real but of course that laptop wasn't Russian disinformation nor is any of the information we presented in our reports and here on the floor of the Senate we may never know all the details of the Biden family foreign entanglements or the full extent to which those entanglements compromise the current president but I'm pretty confident I know who does know intelligence operatives in Russia China Iran and North Korea elements within our U.S intelligence agencies probably also know they're just not going to tell us or you the American people Senator grass and I will return for our third speeches on this in this series on the Biden families foreign Financial entanglements until then Mr President I yield the floor from Wisconsin thank you Senator Grassley with Senator Grassley and I have shown over the course of six speeches of the actual bank records of financial transactions time President Biden's son Hunter and his brother James to businesses that are essentially the arms of the Communist Chinese regime the Biden businesses business ventures include activities in many more countries than just China in our September and November 2020 reports we showed a vast web of Biden family foreign Financial entanglements that were largely ignored by the media and falsely labeled Russian disinformation by our Democrat colleagues as outrageous as the suppression of reports and the false attacks were perhaps the most egregious Behavior came from 51 Former Intelligence Agency officials who lent their names and reputations to an effort designed to convince the American public that Hunter Biden's laptop had quote all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation unquote without any evidence backing their assertion they engage in their own quote information operation unquote by signing a public letter right before the election their letter was actual disinformation coming from what are supposed to be trusted former members of our U.S intelligence agencies they shall be ashamed and held accountable for spreading this disinformation by signing that disinformation letter they reinforce false claims that the records on the laptop were not legitimate by casting doubt on evidence of the Biden's Corrupt Practices these former intelligence officials interfered in the 2020 election to a far greater extent than Russia could have ever hoped to achieve they're really accomplices and the Press Amplified this disinformation letter and by doing so we're equally guilty of egregious election interference in August 2020 I wrote a public letter detailing the history purpose and goals of my oversight investigations in that letter I laid out the timeline of Joe and Hunter Biden's involvement in Ukraine the timeline is very revealing it starts in February 2014. that was the month of the revolution of dignity in Ukraine two months later in on April 16 2014 then Vice President Biden married with his son's business partner Devin Archer who is now a convicted felon at the White House I just want to pause and just let that sink in a little bit Devon Archer is now a convicted felon he got a meeting in the white house with the vice president United States that's kind of a big deal the president asked many questions five days after that meeting in the White House April 21st Joe Biden visited Ukraine and the media described him as quote the public face of the administration's handling of Ukraine the next day on April 22nd Devin Archer joined the board of barisma what a coincidence on April 28th six days later British officials seized 23 million dollars from the London Bank Council barismus owner mccola but that's sinking a little bit six days after Devin Archer joined the board of barisma a day after Vice President Biden visits Ukraine which was five days after he met with Devon archer in the White House British officials seized 23 million dollars from the corrupt owner of barisma on May 13 2014 three weeks later Hunter Biden joined the board of barisma what a coincidence because the findings in our reports and the excellent investigative journalism on the part of John Solomon we also now know that Hunter was involved with Elena batarina the corrupt and now sanctioned wife of the former mayor of Moscow during the exact same period of time on February 14th 2014 batarina wired 3.5 million dollars to Rosemont Seneca Thornton an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden between April 4th and April 5th 2014 again the same month that Joe Biden met with Devon archer in the White House Devin became a member of the board of barista Hunter Biden and Devin Archer sent emails about meeting with batarina potentially relating to a business deal in Chelsea New York on April 13 2014 nine days before Devon Archer joined the board of barisma Hunter Biden and Devon Archer discussed a potential deal involving batarina Archer wrote the bat Arena quote confirmed green light to fund deposit unquote Arch continued quote just spent two hours on the phone with Kiev I am confident at this point this is a good if not life-changing deal if the Ukraine doesn't collapse in the meantime it's quite interesting to see how much significant activity involving the bidens and corrupt actors in Russia and Ukraine occurred within a six-week period only two months after the Ukrainian revolutionary dignity it sure looks like they intended to cash in on the turmoil in Ukraine in my August 2020 letter I listed a number of questions about then Vice President Biden's interaction with Hunter Biden's business partner and other family members foreign Financial dealings in making this letter public My Hope was that the Press the very uninquisitive press would begin to ask then president's candidate Joe Biden these important and legitimate questions it should come to no surprise that the corporate media was completely uninterested and failed to conduct any investigative journalism nearly two years after I wrote this public letter the mainstream has still not adequately pressed President Biden for answers to these very legitimate questions for example number one why did Joe Biden meet with Devin Archer at the White House on April 16 2014 what did they discuss did they discuss anything related to Ukraine Hunter Biden or barisma number two was Joe Biden aware that Devin Archer joined the board abrie Smith six days after that meeting one day after he visited Ukraine three does Joe Biden believe barisma and his owner are corrupt number four when did Joe Biden first become aware that Hunter Biden also joined the board a barisma five when did Joe Biden first become aware of how much money Hunter Biden was being compensated by barisma Senator Grassley in my report showed us close to 4 million dollars number six what does Joe Biden know about Hunter or James Biden's dealings with China number seven what does Joe Biden know about financial benefits his brother and sister-in-law have obtained because of their relationships to him investigative reporter John Solomon has added a few more questions to my list including what number one what if anything did Joe Biden know about his son's dealings with Russian oligarch Olinda batarina number two in 2017 series of memos referred to a Chinese business deal that involved Hunter Biden and included a 10 antiquity for the quote big guy unquote what did Joe Biden know about this specific deal and who was quote the big guy unquote number three email emails on Hunter Biden's laptop now in the possession of the FBI referred to Shared accounts or bills between Joe Biden and Hunter did Hunter ever give Joe Biden any money gift or financial benefit from Hunter's business dealings after a long overdue analysis the New York Times and Washington Post have finally admitted that records from Hunter's laptop are authentic which means although they will never admit this the center Grassley and I were right and they were wrong it was interesting to read how limited and muted their Maya culpas are my guess is that they learned a lot from their coverage of Nixon's Watergate scandal cover-up they learned that when you've been caught in the cover-up and that is what has happened here you try to limit limit the damage by telling a little bit of the truth in the intelligence world this strategy is called quote a limited hangout unquote the Watergate co-conspirators called it quote a modified limited hangout unquote regardless of what you call it what the New York Times And The Washington Post are doing is not telling the whole truth I doubt they ever will but just in case they just decide to pursue the truth with a little bit more rigor they can use the above list of relevant questions as a good starting point for what they should be asking President Biden for our part Senator Grassley and I will continue to ask tough questions review more information records and transparently provide that information to the American public we intend to pursue and uncover the truth I will not turn my the floor back over to Senator Grassley for his closing remarks Senator Johnson you're recognized for your questions famous chairman again I think based on the morning panel on this panel as well we're talking about a problem that is my true definition of a problem one that does not have easy solutions uh again what does harmful content is on the eye of the beholder um you know we all abhor violence you know I certainly condemn white supremacists I condemned you know immediately forcely repeatedly the violence on January 6th um but I am concerned about the bias of your platforms the earlier panel panel would not uh give me any indication whatsoever you know the percentage of liberals versus conservatives in your organizations I don't expect you'll be a more forthright in that but let me ask you this question I know the chairman likes to talk about the white supremacists in January 6 Democrats love talking about that what about the 570 plus riots that occurred in the summer of 2020 2000 law enforcement officers injured one to two billion dollars worth of property damage couple people killed in Kenosha Wisconsin dozens of buildings burned a couple dozen people also lost their lives during those riots uh Mr Cox have you de-platformed have you uh throttled back or censored anybody that was involved in the organization of the summer riots Senator this is a pretty quick answer I got a lot of a lot of territory to cover a senator domestic terrorism and extremism and calls for violence are against our community did you throttle back did you censor anybody that organized uh the summer riots 570 of them Senator I would I can look at this Mr mohan did uh did YouTube throttle back or censor any of the the rioters in the summer 2020. Senator our policies apply equally regardless of who the yeah so did you throttle back did you censor some of the organizations that uh that uh were responsible for the summer riots we would have applied our policies equally regardless of where the riots were if it was a violation can you provide me with the names of people you throttled back the responsible for the summer riots Senator I'm happy to follow up okay good I appreciate that Mr Sullivan what about Twitter Twitter would have removed any incitement to violence that was on our platform regardless of of um so you did you did throttle back on organizers of the summer riots for any case where we see incitement to violence we would remove that content and so your your CEO Mr Dorsey was for a Commerce Committee I think in it was in October 2020 and both Senator Cruz and I asked him whether your platform Twitter could impact our elections and he denied it our our three Witnesses earlier this morning this morning completely disagree with Mr Dorsey said they absolutely Twitter and you know these platforms can do you believe that Twitter can influence impact our elections I think Twitter plays an important role in the public conversation it's really kind of a yes or no answer can they impact our elections we're taking the no not yet really yes or no I got a lot of companies as I described to the previous question we we've put in place many actions and mitigations relating to elections can you impact elections people try to use our platform to get messages out regarding elections you know this morning I've typically talked about the fact that you censored the New York Post article about Hunter Biden we have polls that said that had the American public known that you know we wouldn't be in the ditch that we are right now uh Mr Mohan Do You Believe YouTube can impact elections Senator there's an open public debate that happens on YouTube every day whether it's can you I mean just it's really a pretty simple yes or no answer Senator YouTube is an open platform where there is debate and Mr Cox do you believe that that Facebook can impact the elections Senator I think the public discussion that happens on our platforms are a part of the you don't think by censoring material that you specifically your management can impact elections not not what's occurring on your platform I mean but your management your decisions your censoring of information can you impact the elections Senator respectfully with respect to the New York Post story you reference we did not I know you throttled it back but I mean can you again I'm not asking about that specifically can you do you have the power you know our earlier witness Mr redder said a small group of people run these companies and have substantial power over shaping the reality for billions of people can you I mean can you just be honest by the way our earlier panel basically to prepare if I said don't believe a word you guys are going to tell us but can you at least be honest with the American public and say yeah you have that power you can impact the elections can you be honest with them are you going to sit there and say well you know people talk about things on our platforms Senator we do think transparency about our decision making around our content uh around not just terrorism but around misinformation we take all of these areas of content seriously and we publish our work we do think the public deserves to know what our policies are and how uh listen I think we all agree this is a big problem it's my definition of problem there's no easy solution uh as chairman of this committee I would meet with Facebook and I appreciate what they were trying to do to pull down Islamic Terror type of content so I think we all agree that the we do we don't want to be disseminating extremists violent inducing type of behavior through these platforms but we also need to protect Free Speech as well so it's it's a real tension it's a real Balancing Act um I think Mr um Mr Boland I think you said uh talked about the term extremism and harmful content but I guess that's on the eye eye of the beholder isn't it I mean it's it's it's difficult to Define and I guess what I want to focus on a little bit is you know where do we draw the line in terms of taking down content that we all would agree is Extreme and and could induce violence versus censoring legitimate political debate uh on a Mr uh Mr Roeder do you have any idea what percentage of uh Twitter employees are conservative versus liberal I have no idea you you think it's probably pretty heavily tilted to the left correct I I don't know well I think you do uh Mr Bowen would you want to answer that question I I just don't know I mean okay Mr Kane it's it's obvious but uh uh my only uh knowledge is is China Tech and Tick Tock I'm not as familiar with that area so let me move on let me use an example that I think we're all aware of okay the 800 pound Grill in the room let's let's talk about the hunter Biden laptop um Mr royder do you believe that like Washington Post there's authentic information on that laptop I'm not sure I will say that these are massive platforms they're building I've got very little time Mr I don't know Mr Bowen do you know other do you assume do you assume that's authentic information on the laptop I don't have an opinion on the the laptop okay um so Twitter is actually very effective when they blocked the New York Post articles on the LA honey buying laptop did we had Jack Dorsey in front of the Commerce Committee back in I think October 2020 and both Senator Cruz and I said and myself asked him uh because we were talking about you know Russians using the platforms to impact our elections and everybody agrees that could happen we asked Mr Dorsey do you believe Twitter could impact the election Mr George said no Mr Roeder do you believe Twitter has the capability of impacting the election I think all these social platforms they're so massive it's hard to believe that they're not impacting Mr Bowen do you believe that as well these platforms absolutely have influence and I believe Mr Kane absolutely okay so there's a problem right there okay and I appreciate you acknowledging that fact you know we had 51 former intelligence officials I have no I'm I'm no idea on what basis they wrote this letter they came out immediately I think it might be you know because the FBI had a scheme in August of 2020 to downplay the derogatory information on the hunter Biden laptop but they came out and said that the laptop had all the earmarks of a Russian information operation uh seems to me like that letter itself was a information operation so we have this platform that censored the platform sense of that Facebook throttled it back we actually took a poll on this I didn't but a company called media Research Center poll this is after the election 1715 voters 750 voters in seven swing States of Biden voters who were unaware of the emails text testimony banking transactions on the laptop as well as Senator grassley's my report which was based on interviews with U.S persons and U.S documents okay and 79 of those Biden voters said they would still vote for him but 16 said they would not four percent they either switch the vote to president Trump four percent revealed for third party for four percent would skip voting altogether five percent would not have voted at all pretty strong evidence that what Facebook and Twitter did impacted the 2020 election to a far greater extent than anything Russia ever could have hoped to have done in 2016 or 2020. I want to talk about a little other disinformation coming out of this committee the day or two after Senator Grassley and I issued our report based on U.S documents interviews with U.S persons are now committee chairman who's then committee ranking member issued a press release said Peter's widen responds to a republican effort to amplify Russian disinformation he said I generated a partisan political report that is rooted in Russian disinformation Mr chairman do you want to retract that false allegation now now that we know that the hunter Biden laptop is accurate that there has not been one scintilla of information provided in Senator grassley's in my report that has ever been refuted it was 100 accurate and yet you as ranking member of the committee accused me repeatedly of soliciting and sending Russian disinformation do you want to retract your false allegation here that you should in your press release on September 23rd um no let's just focus on what we're trying to do I'm focusing on this because this is exactly the type of harm we can do to our political process when you have these big tech companies engaging in political debate censoring one side of the political spectrum and amplifying the false allegations of another side do anyone of you want to dispute that well listen I think it's it's important that we get the data to know this is why the platform accountability and transparency Act is so critical to our our globe in our nation is that if you were able to look at the data to understand what had happened from content moderation and you're able to see the distribution you could compare that data across the platforms and see what sort of impact that it had um apps and uh so let me just one part of it transparency would be to at least have people who at least work used to work or work for these platforms to at least acknowledge the highly political nature of the individuals who work in them just acknowledge it I mean it's obvious to everybody I mean Mr Zuckerberg spent what about a half a billion dollars impacting the 2020 election took over the Green Bay election system in a highly partisan fashion about 95 of the the money he spent were in Democrat strongholds in Wisconsin can we at least acknowledge that there's enormous political activity going on partisan activity going on Within These social media companies rather than just try and bury it let's be honest let's be transparent but let's be honest in our transparency I agree with you on the request for transparency my experience outside of whether someone had a certain political leading or not I didn't see political leanings shape the decisions that were made inside the company per my experience and what I what I saw okay well I saw it in there censoring the New York Post article prior to the 2020 election and I think it's pretty obvious thank you Mr chairman and you recognized for your questions famous chairman director Ray uh you made a comment here in answer to the Chairman's questioning that you are committed to working with this committee you'll excuse me if I find those words ring incredibly Hollow I had to subpoena you as chairman of this committee I really didn't get anything I've written repeated letters either with no response whatsoever or a non-response response it's one of the reasons and I'm very grateful to all the whistleblowers are coming forward to various committees to various members people of Integrity within your organizations blowing the whistle on the corruption some of the highest levels of the FBI um first question do you commit publicly that the FBI will not retaliate against those whistleblowers Senator we will not retaliate against whistleblowers I take the protections uh that are in law and regulation of whistleblowers extremely seriously I do that just like I take compliance with all of our other rules very seriously um Senator Grassley wrote you a letter on July 25th 2020. in which he said that whistleblowers his office uh reported that FBI officials initiated a scheme to downplay derogatory information on Hunter Biden for the purpose of shutting down investigatory activity related to his potential criminal exposure by labeling it quote disinformation but that's a that's a familiar term that scheme was hatched in August of 2020. uh also included he said in August 2020 FBI supervisor supervisor intelligence analyst Brian Otten opened an assessment which was used by FBI headquarters team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information is disinformation and cause investigative activity to cease have you responded to Senator grassley's letter that he wrote over three months ago uh Senator I know there have been a whole slew of letters I believe we've responded to a number of them but I sitting here right now have you looked into those charges that there was a scheme hatched in August 2020 to downplay the derogatory information on Hunter Biden have you looked into that personally we have as we speak a number of personnel matters that are underway and I for as Reasons I'm sure you can appreciate we can't discuss it I know that's always your excuse no I got it I understand how you remain Above the Law by using that excuse repeatedly the reason I'm a little sensitive uh on August August 2020 is it on August 6th both Senator Grassley and I received an unsolicited briefing by members of the FBI which I knew was immediately was a setup no new information whatsoever I knew it was a setup and I was correct because nine months later on May 1st it was leaked to The Washington Post to smear me I have written you publicly a number of times asking who directed that briefing are you prepared to tell me in public who directed that briefing now Senator when first off I can't discuss specific defensive briefings more broadly and that's a long-standing practice so tell me tell me then why have you refused to meet with us to privately tell us who directed that briefing so if I'm going to finish my answer to the question it's long-standing practice not to discuss specific defensive briefings we have is my understanding responded in writing to a letter that you sent I think it's bureaucracy Bureau credit gobbledygook is what that is and that's not a reason we offered in that letter to provide a senior executive of the FBI to walk through in detail our process what your process is but not specifically who directed a briefing that was used to smear me have you looked into the leaking of that briefing to The Washington Post have you investigated that I'm not going to discuss specific investigations as to the briefing question and who directs it it may be very clear about this when it comes to election related defensive briefings there is not a single person who makes that decision that is an interagency process that was set up by the prior Administration signed off on by the former president well there are Office of the director there are persons in that interagency correct so there would be persons so we should know who those persons are why why won't you tell us who directed that briefing the persons then I would refer you to the process that was put in place and we can give you more information about the process if you would like have you read Senator grassley's and my report on Hunter Biden is corruption issued in September of 2020 and November of 2020. have you read those reports I have had a chance to look at it do you see any sign of Russian disinformation those reports that would be a hard question for me to answer no it's very easy it's very easy but I would say it's a very easy answer there is no Russian information that report is completely clean of any interference with foreign influence although we have been falsely accused including by the chairman of this committee of spreading Russian disinformation do you are you aware of the FBI having any involvement whatsoever in the October 19 2020 public statement by 51 former intelligence officials I'm not aware of any involvement by the FBI in what you're describing the reason I ask is if it's true that in August of 2020 the FBI initiated a scheme to downplay derogatory information at Hunter Biden it would seem like maybe part of that scheme would be to get intelligence officials to issue a letter that stated that the laptop had all the earmarks of a Russian information operation that was totally false we now know that the hunter laptop is completely authentic

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 1,326,392

Keywords: Sen. Ron Johnson, Hunter Biden, Republicans

Id: nhxb-hlUh_o

Length: 55min 0sec (3300 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 17 2022