Hunter Biden laptop and Twitter hearing enflames House lawmakers

Former Twitter executives suppressed laptop story because of concerns about Russian meddling.

Republicans argued Twitter could have tipped 2020 election by suppressing story about Hunter Biden.

Democrats called inquiry 'silly' and 'bizzare political stunt'

WASHINGTON – The House hearing Wednesday into Twitter’s brief suppression of a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop outlined the queasiness of former executives to block it and provided a bare-knuckle arena for partisan lawmakers to debate allegations against President Joe Biden.

Former Twitter executives told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee the company blocked links to the New York Post story in October 2020 because of similarities to the posting of leaks from hacked Democratic computers before the 2016 election. The executives called the 24-hour suppression a mistake and said it was difficult to judge between contentious and dangerous speech during a campaign.

Against that backdrop, Republican lawmakers argued Twitter’s decision could have thrown the election to Biden rather than former President Donald Trump. Some lawmakers called for legislation to prevent Twitter from blocking posts or government agencies from recommending against publication.

Hunter Biden's art:Hunter Biden's art dealer says his work is 'important.' Why the paintings factor into GOP probes.

But Democrats called the hearing “silly” and a "bizarre political stunt" because Twitter is a private company free to make its own decisions about what to publish. Democrats also questioned the basic allegations against Biden stemming from the laptop as “categorically false.”

The laptop has become a focal point of Republican investigations because it contains a trove of documents and pictures about Hunter Biden. News organizations have confirmed the legitimacy of the laptop abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in 2019, but investigations continue about what the contents mean.

Here are seven takeaways from the hearing:

Former Twitter executives call 2020 laptop decision mistake based on 2016 concerns

Former Twitter executives said elements of the New York Post story in October 2020 appeared under an “initial assessment” similar to the results from the 2016 theft of Democratic documents distributed by Wikileaks.

The company blocked links to the story before reversing course 24 hours later. But the former executives said people could still post comments about the story and discuss it.

“Our judgment was colored by the experience of 2016 and by the very real Russian activities we saw play out that year,” said Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former global head of trust and security, who didn’t agree with the decision to suppress the story. “But this isn’t a case where I was right, and others were wrong: The decisions here aren’t straightforward, and hindsight is 20/20.”

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Former Twitter executives denied violating First Amendment as a private company

The former Twitter executives said they hadn’t been contacted by the FBI to block links to the story, as some House Republicans allege.

“Moreover, I am aware of no unlawful collusion with, or direction from, any government agency or political campaign on how Twitter should have handled the Hunter Biden laptop situation,” said James Baker, Twitter’s former deputy general counsel.

But Republicans alleged Twitter partisanship, based on internal emails and on campaign contributions to Democrats, to thwart the story.

“I think you guys got played by the FBI,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. “I think you wanted this taken down.

What is fentanyl poisoning?:These State of the Union guests lost their son to it

Comer: Twitter able to ‘suppress and delegitimize’ news about Hunter Biden’s laptop

The committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said the result was to "suppress and delegitimize" information about alleged Biden family business schemes.

“Twitter, under the leadership of our witnesses today, was a private company the federal government used to accomplish what it constitutionally cannot: limit the free exercise of speech,” said Comer.

Biden's GOP antagonists in the House:Biden’s most vocal GOP antagonists emerge, World Economic Forum preview: 5 Things podcast

Greene blasts Twitter for banning her

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., blasted Twitter executives for banning her from the site in 2022 until after she won her election in November and said she was glad the former executives lost their jobs.

Greene argued the company violated her First Amendment rights by censoring her for posts about COVID-19 vaccines despite Twitter being a private company rather than a government censor.

“You abused the power of a large corporation – Big Tech – to censor Americans,” Greene said. “Guess what? I’m so glad that you’re censored now and I’m so glad that you’ve lost your jobs.”

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former global head of trust and security, said Greene was banned after multiple warnings and timeouts for posting misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

Biden and GOP spar at SOTU:Marjorie Taylor Greene, other Republicans spar with Biden over Social Security, Medicare

Democrats call inquiry ‘silly’ and ‘bizarre political stunt’

The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, called the inquiry an “authentically trivial pursuit” because Twitter is a private company, blocked links to the story briefly and later apologized.

“Silly does not begin to capture this obsession,” said Raskin.

Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, said the inquiry pursued “long-debunked conspiracy theories” and was a “bizarre political stunt.”

Romney criticizes Santos:Mitt Romney calls George Santos 'a sick puppy' after Biden State of the Union

Goldman calls Ukraine allegations about president ‘categorically false’

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who previously served as a Democratic lawyer in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, challenged the main accusation Wednesday against Joe Biden stemming from his son’s laptop.

Goldman said the first accusation in the New York Post story is that vice president Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general for investigating Burisma, a company that employed Hunter Biden. Goldman said the accusation is “categorically false and there is no evidence of it" because the coordinated policy of the U.S. and Europe was to oust the prosecutor for not investigating corruption.

“We’ve seen no actual evidence for any lies or any support for Joe Biden being involved in anything having to do with Ukraine other than promoting U.S. foreign policy,” Goldman said.

Politics latest:Follow the most up-to-date politics headlines live

Former Twitter exec calls tweet removal ‘slippery slope’

Former Twitter executives told the House panel that Trump’s White House asked Twitter to remove tweets, but Biden’s administration had not.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., cited an episode from September 2019 when Trump heckled two celebrities on Twitter – John Legend and Chrissy Teigen – and she replied in a tweet insulting Trump.

A Democratic witness, Anika Collier Navaroli, a former senior expert on Twitter’s safety policy team, said the White House called her supervisors asking to remove Teigen’s tweet. But she and the other three former executives at the hearing said they hadn’t heard of the Biden White House making a similar request.

Connolly asked whether it was appropriate for a president to direct or try to influence a social media company to remove its content. “I think it’s a very slippery slope,” Navaroli said.

State of the Union takeaways:Blue-collar Joe, GOP boos and a 2024 preview

House Republicans grill Twitter execs on Hunter Biden laptop story ...

President Biden's combative State of the Union address Tuesday night signaled more than a new year: It welcomed a different presidency.

And the GOP is ready to take it on.

The House Oversight Committee held its first hearing Wednesday investigating Biden and his family, where former Twitter executives faced questions about media coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop. It's the start of a string of probes into the president that the GOP promised to conduct after retaking the House in November.

Here's what else is happening in politics:

Mitt Romney zings George Santos: Utah Sen. Mitt Romney at the State of the Union address joined the growing number of Republicans in shunning freshman Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., calling him a "sick puppy."

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney at the State of the Union address joined the growing number of Republicans in shunning freshman Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., calling him a "sick puppy." Biden hones in on working-class messaging as he prepares for a 2024 bid.

messaging as he prepares for a 2024 bid. Former GOP South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is already lining up her presidential campaign tour scheduling visits to New Hampshire following her expected presidential announcement next week in her home state.

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Biden: Items found in classified documents probe were 'stray papers'

President Joe Biden said items seized by the Department of Justice in its classified documents probe were “to the best of my knowledge…from 1974, stray papers.”

"There may be something else. I don't know,” Biden told PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff Wednesday.

After the president’s lawyers found a small number of classified documents in his former office in November, the FBI retrieved other documents from his Wilmington, Delaware home.

Biden has previously said he was surprised to learn the files from his past service in the White House and Congress contained classified material. “As they packed up my offices to move them, they didn’t do the kind of job that should have been done to go thoroughly through every single piece of literature there,” Biden told Woodruff.

– Maureen Groppe

Stray papers:Biden: Items found in DOJ classified documents probe were 'stray papers' from decades ago

From office to beach house:Timeline of investigation into Joe Biden classified documents

Biden's first stop after State of the Union is Wisconsin where he touts economy

Fresh off his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden arrived in Wisconsin Wednesday to press an economic message he hopes appeals to blue-collar workers in the Badger State who have in recent years diverted their support to Republican candidates.

"A typical middle-class family for decades was the backbone of America. The middle class has been hollowed out — it's been hollowed out," Biden said at the Laborers' International Union of North America training center in DeForest, 14 miles north of Madison.

Biden made his first stop in Dane County to promote his economic plan that he argues will address the challenges of an aging population and a stagnant workforce. But he arrives at a time when most Wisconsin voters don't approve of the way he is handling the presidency and as voters nationally are sour on the idea of a 2020 rerun between Biden and Trump. A recent poll by the Marquette University Law School that showed 34% wanting Biden to run in 2024 and 29% backing a Trump campaign for president.

- Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Biden in the Badger State:With an eye on a 2024 reelection bid, President Joe Biden takes his economic message to union workers in Wisconsin

Eying White House run, Nikki Haley plans to visit key primary state of New Hampshire

Nikki Haley is serving notice that she will not be a South Carolina-centric presidential candidate.

Her campaign announced Wednesday that, after next week's announcement speech in Charleston, S.C., Haley will hold town hall-style events in New Hampshire, which is also expected to host an early 2024 primary.

The Charleston speech is next Wednesday. The next day, Feb. 16, Haley hosts a town hall in Exeter, N.H. The day after that, Feb. 17, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador under Donald Trump campaigns in Manchester, N.H.

Haley will be the first big-name Republican to formally challenge ex-President Donald Trump, whose 2016 victory in New Hampshire propelled him to the GOP nomination.

– David Jackson

More:Nikki Haley to launch 2024 presidential bid in Charleston on Feb. 15, taking on Trump: sources

‘I called them out’: Biden relishes GOP outburst over Social Security, Medicare

President Joe Biden happily revisited a contentious moment of his State of the Union address, claiming Wednesday that he “called out” Republicans who heckled him when he accused them of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare.

"My Republican friends, they seemed shocked when I raised the plans of some of their members and their caucus to cut Social Security," Biden, speaking at a union hall near Madison, Wis., said. “And Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up said, ‘Liar, liar.’ Reminds me of, ‘Liar Liar, house on fire.”

He then cited a plan put forward last year by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to sunset all federal programs after five years; and read off past statements from Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, about entitlements.

“They sure didn’t like me calling them on it,” Biden said. “I found it interesting, when I called them out on it last night, it sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table … Well, I sure hope that's true. I’ll believe when I see it.”

- Joey Garrison

Biden’s trip to Wisconsin to highlight workforce for new clean-energy manufacturing

President Joe Biden’s post-State of the Union trip Wednesday to Wisconsin will seek to bring attention to his administration’s efforts to train a manufacturing workforce with new skills in clean energy.

Biden will speak at the Laborer's International Union of North America's training center in DeForest, Wis., outside of Madison. He is expected to highlight the role of unions in training a workforce that will help deliver the president's promises of clean energy, rebuilt roads, bridges and water supplies, and strengthened American manufacturing.

His remarks are part of a direct appeal to disaffected blue-collar voters, who Biden and Democrats desperately need to win back to improve their prospects in the 2024 election.

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which passed Congress last year, included $370 billion in climate incentives for companies that build electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and produce other forms of clean energy.

-- Joey Garrison and Karl Ebert

What is the 1870 button lawmakers wore during the State of the Union?

Eagle-eyed viewers of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday might have noticed a number of congressmembers sporting buttons printed with the year 1870.

Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with some other Democrats, wore 1870 pins as a way to spotlight the need for policing reform. The year 1870 is the first on record when a free, unarmed Black man was killed by police – Henry Truman, who in March of 1870 chased down and shot by Philadelphia police.

The pins were distributed by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., who said in a statement on Twitter: "153 years later the Black community is still waiting for justice."

-Anna Kaufman, Ella Lee

Goldman calls Ukraine allegations after President Biden ‘categorically false’

Rep. Dan Goldman, who previously served as a Democratic lawyer in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, challenged the main accusation Wednesday against President Joe Biden stemming from his son’s laptop.

Goldman, D-N.Y., said the accusation in a New York Post story about the laptop is that as vice president Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general for investigating Burisma, a company that employed Hunter Biden. But Goldman said the coordinated policy of the U.S. and Europe was to oust the prosecutor for not investigating corruption.

“We’ve seen no actual evidence for any lies or any support for Joe Biden being involved in anything having to do with Ukraine other than promoting U.S. foreign policy,” Goldman said.

--Bart Jansen

Goldman questions reasons for Twitter hearing about suppression of laptop story

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., questioned why the House Oversight and Accountability Committee was holding a hearing about Hunter Biden’s laptop because stories about President Joe Biden were wrong or showed no links to corruption.

The chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., interrupted Goldman to ask if he was sure he was right. Goldman said none of the allegations of Biden corruption stemming from the laptop have been proven.

“I hope you are not abusing power as chairman of this committee and that you are not wasting taxpayer dollars on a fishing expedition into a civilian child of a president for political purposes,” Goldman told Comer.

--Bart Jansen

White House: Republicans’ heckling provided ‘split screen’ for Americans

The White House seized on heckling that came from Republicans during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, arguing Wednesday that it provided a striking “split screen” about the two parties.

“You saw what the Republicans are all about, which was jeering and behaving in a way that Americans don’t want,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She contrasted their outbursts with Biden, who she characterized as focused on results. “We're going with the approach of continuing to deliver on key important issues.”

The chorus of Republican boos, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., came as Biden accused them of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare and later when he discussed ending the Fentanyl crisis. It made for a gift to the White House, which has worked to highlight the polarizing Greene’s influence in the Republican Party.

-- Joey Garrison

Raskin: House GOP inquiry into Twitter ‘silly’

The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee called the Republican inquiry into Twitter “silly” because the company is private and can make any decisions it wants to whether to publish stories such as one about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., called the inquiry an “authentically trivial pursuit” because the Twitter only blocked links to a New York Post story about the laptop for two days and later apologized for the action. But he said people still tweeted about the laptop, just without links to the story.

“Silly does not begin to capture this obsession,” Raskin said.

--Bart Jansen

Former Twitter execs on suppressing laptop story: ‘decisions here aren’t straightforward’

Former Twitter executives told a House panel that decisions about what to block from the social media site are difficult, but they had qualms about suppressing news of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.

James Baker, Twitter’s former deputy general counsel, told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee there was no collusion with any government agency or political campaign about how to handle posts about the laptop.

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former global head of trust and security, said the company aims to remove dangerous posts and removed 33,000 accounts in the second half of 2021 for promoting terrorism or violent extremism and more than 100,000 for promoting the sale of illegal goods and services.

“The decisions here aren’t straightforward and hindsight is 20/20,” said Roth, who disagreed with suppressing the laptop story.

--Bart Jansen

White House: House hearing on Twitter and Hunter Biden ‘bizarre political stunt’

The White House blasted the House hearing about Twitter suppressing news of Hunter Biden’s laptop as “a bizarre political stunt” pursuing “long-debunked conspiracy theories” .

Ian Sams, a Biden spokesperson, said work remains on top bipartisan priorities such as tackling inflation, raising wages and investing in manufacturing. Instead, “House Republicans are making it their top priority to stage a bizarre political stunt,” he said in a statement.

“As the president has said and made his focus, the American people expect their leaders to work together in a bipartisan way on the issues that most impact their lives and their families, not attack his family with long-debunked conspiracy theories,” Sams said.

--Bart Jansen

More:Chinese spy balloon went over other US missile and nuclear weapons sites, lawmaker says

Fact checks from Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address

President Joe Biden at Tuesday's State of the Union touted his administration’s achievements and offered an agenda for Congress this year.

But the president left out important context from his nearly 72 minute long speech.

USA TODAY fact-checked 15 themes from Biden’s address. Here’s what was missing.

-USA TODAY staff

GOP spars with Biden over Social Security, Medicare amid debt ceiling debate

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stood up from her seat in the back of the House chamber to heckle President Joe Biden after he said that “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset” while discussing the need to raise the debt ceiling in order to avoid a US default.

Social Security and Medicare are two of the federal government's most expensive and most popular programs and have long been a source of heated debate during discussions about the national debt and federal spending.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans won't cut the programs, but Democrats say the math will force those cuts if the GOP demands lower government spending.

-- Erin Mansfield, Candy Woodall

Mitt Romney: Rep. George Santos a ‘sick puppy’

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney at the State of the Union address joined the growing number of Republicans who have said embattled freshman Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., shouldn't be in Congress.

Santos has admitted to embellishing parts of his personal and professional resume, but Romney said they are lies, not embellishments. To embellish, he said, is to say you got an A instead of an A-. "Lying is saying you graduated from a college you didn't even attend."

"If he had any shame at all, he wouldn't be there," Romney told reporters after the address.

- Candy Woodall

More:Marjorie Taylor Greene, other Republicans spar with Biden over Social Security, Medicare

Biden focuses on working-class message as he prepares for 2024 bid

The country is at an inflection point, as President Joe Biden likes to say. So, too, is Biden's presidency, as he prepares to compete for a second term in office.

Biden's descriptions of how infrastructure investments will benefit middle class families are not resonating with blue-collar workers – particularly white voters who didn't attend college. Many defected from the Democratic Party over the last decade and offered Biden lukewarm support in the last presidential election.

Ahead of an expected re-election announcement in the coming weeks, Biden is making a concerted effort to bring working-class Americans back into the fold. His first stop on his post-State of the Union tour will be at a union-run apprenticeship and training facility in Wisconsin, a state that epitomizes the challenges that Democrats face in the 2024 election with independents and workers who have been hard hit by the decline in American manufacturing.

– Francesca Chambers and Joey Garrison

'Four more years':Biden hints at 2024 as he rallies Democratic Party leaders in Philadelphia

Comer: Twitter able to ‘suppress and delegitimize’ news about Hunter Biden’s laptop

Rep. James Comer plans to open his hearing on Twitter’s suppression of news about Hunter Biden’s laptop by accusing the social media platform of making censorship decisions on the fly in the past and working hand-in-hand with the FBI to monitor communications.

Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is expected to say the FBI advised senior Twitter officials to question the validity of any Hunter Biden story as potential Russian disinformation. But Comer, R-Ky., said the result was to "suppress and delegitimize" information about alleged Biden family business schemes.

“Twitter, under the leadership of our witnesses today, was a private company the federal government used to accomplish what it constitutionally cannot: limit the free exercise of speech,” Comer is expected to say in opening remarks. "It worked hand-in-hand with the FBI to monitor the protected speech of Americans—receiving millions of dollars to do so."

– Bart Jansen

Biden traveling to Wisconsin and Florida after speech

Biden administration officials will hit the road this week, holding events in at least 20 states to highlight parts of the president’s message.

Biden himself will talk about his economic agenda in Wisconsin Wednesday and will discuss Social Security and Medicare in Florida Thursday.

Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to Georgia and Minnesota. Multiple other Cabinet members are also fanning out across the country.

– Maureen Groppe

'We're turning it around': Biden says Democrats must pay attention to working class voters

House panel to quiz former Twitter executives about coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is scheduled to hear Wednesday from three former Twitter executives about the suppression of news about Hunter Biden’s laptop, the first salvo in an inquiry into his potential influence on his father, President Joe Biden.

Twitter initially blocked distribution of New York Post stories about the laptop in October 2020, weeks before the election, in a decision the former CEO called “unacceptable.” The committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., wants to talk to Yoel Roth, former head of trust and safety; Vijaya Gadde, former chief legal officer; and James Baker, former general counsel, about the incident.

But Joe Biden has denied getting involved with his son’s business deals in Ukraine or China, or profiting from them. Hunter Biden’s lawyers called for a criminal investigation of the distribution of the laptop’s contents. And Democrats blasted the inquiry as “hyper-partisan” conspiracy theories that have been debunked.

– Bart Jansen

Sanders: Biden has 'failed' American people; calls for 'new generation'

Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, at age 40 the youngest governor in the country, didn't hesitate to point out that 80-year-old Joe Biden is the oldest president in history – and added that it is time for a "new generation" of Republican leadership.

"Biden and the Democrats have failed you," Sanders said in the formal GOP response to Biden's State of the Union address. "It's time for a change."

Speaking from the governor's mansion in Little Rock, Ark., Sanders cited domestic issues like inflation, immigration, and crime. Also criticizing the president's foreign policy, Sanders said Biden is "unfit" to be Commander-in-Chief.

Citing the Republican majority in the House, Sanders said: "We will hold the Biden administration accountable."

– David Jackson

More:In Republican response to Biden's State of the Union, a vow to block the president's agenda

House Intel chairman: China’s spy balloon went to other sensitive missile and nuclear weapons sites

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said China’s surveillance balloon maneuvered over sensitive U.S. military sites in addition to the ones in Montana that it passed over before being shot down off the South Carolina coast Saturday.

“If you take the path that this balloon did, and you put up an X every place where you have a missile defense site, actual nuclear weapons infrastructure, you're going to follow this path,” Turner said in a briefing with reporters. “So I think the natural conclusion is it is intelligence gathering with respect to try to affect in some way the command and control of our missile defense and nuclear weapons.”

Turner did not elaborate on that or share other details about the ongoing investigation into China’s balloon, in some cases citing the classified nature of the information. But he said the U.S. intelligence community is scheduled to brief him and other members of congressional leadership who comprise the Gang of Eight later this week on the balloon and efforts to gain any intelligence from the recovery of it.

– Josh Meyer

More:DOD did not think the spy balloon was a military threat when it was first detected

Hunter Biden investigation hearing: GOP takes on laptop, China deals

Lawmakers want to ask former Twitter executives about suppressing news of Hunter Biden's laptop.

The panel also seeks banking alerts about business deals and records of art sales.

Joe Biden denied benefitting from his son's deals and Democrats call the inquiry 'hyper-partisan.'

WASHINGTON – The curtain goes up on House Republican investigations into President Joe Biden and his family with a hearing Wednesday about how Twitter blocked messages about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing opens the panel’s door on investigations into Hunter Biden and potential attempts to influence his father’s politics through business deals in Ukraine or China, or through high-price sales of his own paintings.

“We’re going to start with the hard drive because there’s a lot of evidence on the hard drive that suggests Joe Biden knew very well what his family was involved in," Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the Oversight chairman, told reporters last month. "We want to make sure that our national security isn’t compromised because China is an adversary right now."

Hunter Biden's art and the GOP:Hunter Biden's art dealer says his work is 'important.' Why the paintings factor into GOP probes.

Joe Biden has denied discussing business or benefiting from his son’s deals. Hunter Biden's lawyers have asked the Justice Department and Delaware attorney general to investigate the distribution of information from the laptop for possible criminal prosecution.

The Oversight hearing, coming the day after Biden’s State of the Union speech, offers a showcase of Republican investigations into the Democratic president. But Democratic lawmakers blasted the inquiry as “hyper-partisan” conspiracy theories that have been debunked.

Hunter Biden lawyers on offensive:Attorneys urge probes of Trump allies, demand Tucker Carlson retract reporting

Here’s what we know about the committee investigation so far:

Hunter Biden's laptop: What does it have to do with Trump, Giuliani and the 2020 election?

The laptop has become a focal point of Republican investigations because it contains a trove of documents and pictures of Hunter Biden.

A computer repairman, John Paul Mac Isaac, gave the laptop information to the FBI after Hunter Biden failed to pick up the MacBook Pro following repairs in April 2019. Mac Isaac later gave the laptop to former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani gave the laptop to local police and shared the contents with reporters.

The New York Post reported in October 2020 – weeks before the presidential election – on emails about Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine and possible links to his father.

Jim Jordan subpoenas FBI, Ed. Department:Rep. Jim Jordan subpoenas FBI, Education Department over school board memo

The story described 2015 emails indicating then-Vice President Joe Biden met with a high-ranking official at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company whose board employed Hunter Biden. The meeting would have come at a time when Biden was pressuring Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general, who was investigating the company.

But Biden’s campaign said, “No meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.”

When Trump raised questions about the laptop at a presidential debate, Biden replied that it was Russian disinformation. The laptop’s legitimacy has since been confirmed by CBS News, but the contents remain under investigation.

Wednesday's Biden hearing:Biden family hearings to begin Feb. 8 as House GOP probes Twitter, Hunter Biden laptop

Hunter Biden asks DOJ, Delaware attorney general to investigate distribution of laptop information

Hunter Biden’s lawyers sent letters Wednesday asking the Justice Department and Delaware’s attorney general to investigate who accessed, copied and disseminated information from the laptop.

Abbe Lowell, one of Hunter Biden’s lawyers, said the actions taken with the laptop “more than merit a full investigation and, depending on the resulting facts, may merit prosecution under various statutes.”

Timeline of Biden documents probe:From office to beach house

The committee seeks Treasury documents about 'suspicious' Hunter Biden banking transactions

The committee asked the Treasury Department for documents about 150 alerts from U.S. banks about suspicious transactions involving Hunter Biden and James Biden, the president's brother. The committee also asked the Prewitt Mahler Tucker Private Wealth Management Group about its management of Hunter Biden’s finances including “questionable business dealings.”

The suspicious transaction reports don’t necessarily flag wrongdoing because they generally cover transactions greater than $5,000 and the department received 3.6 million reports last year.

Comer said documents suggest Hunter Biden was paid $80,000 per month by Burisma and benefitted from a $5 million deal in China, which was wire-transferred through corporate intermediaries. Comer said he would like to find out what Hunter Biden provided in exchange.

Comer argued the payments were "influence peddling," and acknowledged there might be nothing to the suspicious reports, but he wants to review them.

Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson for oversight, called the request for banking records a political stunt driven by the most extreme members of the Republican conference.

House GOP take on Biden in lead-up to 2024:Biden’s most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines – with subpoena power

Joe Biden denies profiting from son

Joe Biden denied repeatedly he received any benefit from his son’s business deals. But Republicans questioned his truthfulness.

“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Biden said in 2019.

But Comer labeled the claim “false” because of documentation of meetings from Hunter Biden’s personal calendar and White House visitor records.

Joe Biden earlier denied receiving foreign payments during a 2020 presidential debate.

“I have not taken a penny from any foreign source at any point in my life,” Biden said.

What do the Secret Service and FBI know?

The committee is also investigating how federal agencies such as the Secret Service and the FBI have dealt with Hunter Biden.

The panel asked who had access to Joe Biden’s former office and his home, where classified documents from his time as vice president were discovered in November and December.

Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, told the panel the White House doesn’t maintain visitor logs for the house. But the Secret Service generates law enforcement records for people who visit, so Comer asked the agency for those records from when Biden left the Obama administration in January 2017.

FBI searches Biden's beach house:FBI searches Biden's Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, house as part of classified documents probe

The committee asked the FBI for information about Hunter Biden's relationship with JiaQi "Jackie" Bao, whom lawmakers identified as having ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Bao helped Hunter Biden broker a 2017 deal for a U.S. purchase of liquefied natural gas through CEFC China Energy, according to the committee.

But the deal collapsed in 2019 when CEFC's leaders were arrested in the U.S. and charged with corruption for projects in Africa, according to the committee.

Previous Senate investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing

Republicans on a pair of Senate committees investigated Hunter Biden’s alleged corruption in Ukraine and found in September 2020, before the existence of the laptop was known publicly, that there was no evidence of wrongdoing or corrupt actions by Joe Biden in connection with his son.

The 87-page report found Hunter Biden’s role at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma “problematic” but said it was “unclear” whether he influenced U.S. foreign policy while Joe Biden was vice president.

But Republicans serving in the minority didn’t have the authority to subpoena witnesses, which Comer now has.

Biden, Trump, Pence aren't alone:Millions access sensitive documents, mishandling is common

Who is testifying from Twitter?

Republicans have accused social media companies such as Twitter of suppressing information about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO at the time, said later that blocking the article with “zero context” was “unacceptable.”

The committee called former Twitter executives as witnesses for the hearing: Yoel Roth, former global head of trust and safety; Vijaya Gadde, former chief legal officer and James Baker, former general counsel.

Baker is a former general counsel for the FBI, an agency lawmakers accused of encouraging social media companies to suppress stories before the election because of concerns about hacking. Gadde explained at the time how Twitter revised its policy allowing tweets about the laptop after suppressing them for days.

Biden and Trump documents expose wider problem:Missing classified records not uncommon

Democrat introduces resolution to expel Santos from House: Updates

WASHINGTON — A Democratic congressman Thursday launched an effort to expel GOP Rep. George Santos from Congress. California Rep. Robert Garcia referred a resolution to the House Ethics Committee to kick out tghe freshman New York lawmaker who lied about his background and finances during last year's campaign.

Meanwhile, the Republican head of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee ramped up his probe of President Joe Biden’s son and brother. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is requesting Hunter and James Biden for documents since 2009 covering communications with intelligence agencies, travel and financial records since Biden was vice president

Here's what else is happening in politics:

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Fetterman's doctors rule out stroke as cause of recent dizziness

Sen. John Fetterman's doctors have concluded that the Pennsylvania Democrat who was hospitalized late Wednesday for lightheadedness did not suffer a stroke.

Fetterman, who suffered a stroke during his 2022 Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, was taken to George Washington University Hospital after feeling dizzy toward the end of a Senate Democratic retreat Wednesday, according to his spokesperson, Joe Calvello.

On Thursday, Calvello said the results of an MRI "along with the results of all of the other tests the doctors ran, rule out a new stroke. He is being monitored with an EEG for signs of seizure - so far there are no signs of seizure, but he is still being monitored."

- Candy Woodall

Minnesota congresswoman attacked in apartment building elevator

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Angie Craig was assaulted at her apartment building in Washington Thursday morning, according to the congresswoman’s office.

The incident occurred in an elevator around 7:15 a.m.

“Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay,” Craig’s chief of staff, Nick Coe, said in a statement.

Coe added that “there is no evidence that the incident was politically motivated.”

- Phillip M. Bailey

‘Time for him to go‘: Democrats introduce resolution to expel George Santos

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., referred a resolution Thursday to the House Ethics Committee to expel GOP Rep. George Santos from Congress. The freshman Democrat called Santos a fraud and a liar for misrepresenting his background and finances during his campaign last year for New York's third district.

“It’s time for him to go,” Garcia said. “We have given him plenty of time to resign and he has chosen not to do so.”

The odds of expulsion are long. It would take two-thirds of the chamber to vote for such a move. Santos told USA TODAY “it’s their prerogative" to introduce a resolution, and maintained his position that he will not resign from office.

“They can do whatever they want. For people who like to talk about silencing voters, they want to silence 142,000 people who voted to send me here," he said.

- Rachel Looker and Candy Woodall

Santos probes:George Santos controversy: Here's a look at investigations of the House Republican

Donald Trump's Facebook account is officially restored

Brace yourselves for Donald Trump's first new Facebook post.

Meta Platforms Inc. mechanically restored Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts Thursday, more than two years after suspending him for improper content in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

The social media giant announced Jan. 25 that it would lift Trump's suspension, and threatened more penalties if the ex-president again violates their content policies.

– David Jackson

Why Biden keeps revisiting the Social Security, Medicare heckling episode

President Joe Biden won’t let Republicans forget about their heckling – and apparent commitment not to touch Medicare or Social Security – from his State of the Union address this week.

“It sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table. I sure hope so. I mean it," Biden said, speaking Thursday at the University of Tampa in Florida.

Republicans booed and jeered Biden during the State of the Union when he accused them of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare, pointing to a proposal by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to sunset all federal programs every five years. The White House believes the moment boxed Republicans – who have pushed unspecified spending cuts during debt ceiling talks – into a corner.

“I know that a lot of Republicans' dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me say this. If that's your dream, I'm your nightmare,” Biden said.

- Joey Garrison and Maureen Groppe

Nikki Haley schedule update: Iowa is also on her announcement itinerary

Having already announced events in South Carolina and New Hampshire, soon-to-be presidential candidate Nikki Haley has added another early contest state to her announcement tour: Iowa.

Haley, who formally announces her candidacy Wednesday in Charleston, S.C., will conduct a town hall in Urbandale, Iowa, on Feb. 20, and Marion, Iowa, on Feb. 21, according to her campaign. The 2024 GOP presidential campaign kicks off in the Hawkeye State which holds the first caucus in the nation.

The former United Nations ambassador who is challenging Donald Trump for the GOP nomination in 2024 has two halls in New Hampshire late next week.

– David Jackson

GOP Congressman calls Santos 'a joke' but wouldn't vote to expel him

Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican and key ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is joining the growing number of members in his party who believe Rep. George Santos doesn’t belong in Congress.

“George Santos is a joke, and he shouldn’t be in Congress,” Johnson told USA TODAY Thursday. But Johnson was hesitant about a Democratic resolution to expel Santos.

“It’s the voters who get to decide who to hire and fire,” he said. “Before we start exercising a veto over the decision of the voters, I think we really want to proceed cautiously.”

- Candy Woodall

'Sick puppy':Mitt Romney calls George Santos 'a sick puppy' after Biden State of the Union

House unanimously condemns China’s spy balloon

A usually divided House came together Thursday to slam the Chinese government for sending a spy balloon to fly over much of the continental U.S. this month.

Five days after the military shot down the surveillance device, lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution condemning the foreign nation that called the incident “a brazen violation of (American) sovereignty.”

State Department officials said Thursday the balloon, which was shot down off the South Carolina coast, was fashioned with equipment that was "clearly for intelligence surveillance.”

“An event like this… must not happen again. And it cannot go unanswered,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, of Texas, who is chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during Thursday’s floor debate.

- Phillip M. Bailey

White House calls House inquiry ‘political stunt’

A White House spokesperson slammed a House hearing scheduled Thursday as a “political stunt” aimed at getting participants more attention on Fox News.

The Judiciary subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government will hear from witnesses including Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who have investigated Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals. Other witnesses include former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Fox News contributor, and former FBI agent Nicole Parker.

“These extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress are choosing to make it their top priority to go down the rabbit hole of debunked conspiracy theories about a ‘deep state’ instead of taking a deep breath and deciding to work with the President and Democrats in Congress to improve Americans’ everyday lives,” Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.

– Bart Jansen

Hunter Biden laptop story enflames House lawmakers:7 takeaways from Twitter hearing

Report: Election deniers lost, but election threats remain

Many Donald Trump-backed election deniers lost bids for office last year, but the threat of election subversion remains, says a new report – particularly physical threats to election workers.

“While the most feared threats to election administration and vote counting did not materialize in 2022, that doesn’t mean that the elevated risks to our elections have disappeared and we can lower our guard,” said Wendy Weiser, Vice President for Democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

Weiser is a member of the National Task Force on Election Crises, which issued a report Thursday warning that there are still some current government officials – mostly Trump-style Republicans – who want to manipulate voting and election laws to favor their candidates.

The report urged the government to remain vigilant about election threats, especially from partisans willing to physically threaten election officials to try and get their way.

"The threat of political violence was one the most concerning aspects of the 2022 cycle and one that shows no signs of abating," the report said.

– David Jackson

Sen. Fetterman hospitalized:Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke on campaign trail, hospitalized for lightheadedness

Comer demands documents from president’s son, brother

The head of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee ratcheted up his investigation of President Joe Biden’s son and brother with a request to them for documents since 2009 covering communications with intelligence agencies, travel and financial records since Biden was vice president.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said the letters to Hunter and James Biden, and their business associate Eric Schwerin, would help the panel draft stronger ethics legislation for federal officials and their families. The request followed a six-hour hearing Wednesday about Twitter stifling news coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which contained information about foreign business deals.

Joe Biden dismissed the inquiry. “The public’s not going to pay attention to that,” Biden told the PBS NewsHour on Wednesday. “If the only thing they can do is make up things about my family, it’s not going to go very far.”

--Bart Jansen

Biden's GOP antagonists:Biden’s most vocal GOP antagonists emerge, World Economic Forum preview: 5 Things podcast

Hunter Biden lawyer calls Comer inquiry ‘inaccurate’ and ‘baseless’

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer representing Hunter Biden, replied to Rep. James Comer’s request for documents from the president’s son as “peddling inaccurate and baseless conclusions.”

As head of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Comer, R-Ky., had demanded Hunter Biden documents about intelligence agencies, travel and finances since 2009 to draft stronger ethics legislation. But Lowell said Hunter Biden is a private citizen and the panel lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.

“Peddling your own inaccurate and baseless conclusions under the guise of a real investigation, turns the Committee into ‘Wonderland’ and you into the Queen of Hearts shouting, ‘sentence first, verdict afterwards,’” Lowell wrote in a four-page letter to Comer.

– Bart Jansen

Hunter Biden's art dealer says his work is 'important':Why the paintings factor into GOP probes.

Pentagon: China conducted spy balloon program for years

The Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for “several years,” the Pentagon said Wednesday.

When similar balloons passed over U.S. territory on four occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons, said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. But he said “subsequent intelligence analysis” allowed the U.S. to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn “a lot more” about the program.

– Associated Press

Spy balloon flew over sensitive US sites:Chinese spy balloon flew over other US missile and nuclear weapons sites, lawmaker says

White House hits back at GOP after State of the Union heckling over Social Security, Medicare

During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday, GOP lawmakers responded with vocal outrage when the president suggested Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare. But on Thursday, the White House pulled out the receipts.

In a fact sheet titled “Congressional Republicans’ Many Proposals to Cut Social Security and Medicare, and Increase Prescription Drug Prices and Health Care Premiums,” the White House called out the party and several GOP lawmakers by name for having a “different record” on the popular programs than they loudly claimed Tuesday.

The fact sheet shows the White House’s growing boldness in calling out the opposite party as the 2024 election rapidly approaches.

-Ella Lee

State of the Union takeaways:Blue-collar Joe, GOP boos and a 2024 preview

'Moms for Liberty' asks Iowa lawmakers to get 'inappropriate' books out of schools

Five Iowa moms, all members of the conservative "Moms for Liberty" group, made their case to lawmakers this week about their efforts to remove or limit inappropriate books in schools.

"This legislature needs to come together and find common ground on protecting children from obscenity," said Mandy Gilbert, a Johnston parent and secretary for the Polk County Moms for Liberty chapter.

Outside the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee room, a small group held signs that condemned book banning. Former Iowa teacher Alena Treat said she's concerned the push against inappropriate books is part of a larger effort to remove LGBTQ representation from schools.

– Katie Akin, Des Moines Register

Read the full story:'Moms for Liberty' calls on Iowa legislature to rid schools of 'inappropriate' books'

Hunter Biden laptop story enflames House lawmakers

The House hearing Wednesday into Twitter’s brief suppression of a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop outlined the queasiness of former executives to block it and provided a bare-knuckle arena for partisan lawmakers to debate allegations against President Joe Biden.

Former Twitter executives told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee the company blocked links to the New York Post story in October 2020 because of similarities to the posting of leaks from hacked Democratic computers before the 2016 election. The executives called the 24-hour suppression a mistake and said it was difficult to judge between contentious and dangerous speech during a campaign.

Republican lawmakers argued Twitter’s decision could have thrown the election to Biden rather than former President Donald Trump, while Democrats called the hearing “silly” and a "bizarre political stunt.”

– Bart Jansen

Read the full story:Hunter Biden laptop story enflames House lawmakers: 7 takeaways from Twitter hearing

Sen. John Fetterman hospitalized for lightheadedness

Sen. John Fetterman, who had a stroke during his 2022 Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, is in the hospital, his office said late Wednesday night.

Fetterman was taken to George Washington University Hospital after feeling lightheaded toward the end of the Senate Democratic retreat Wednesday, according to a statement from his spokesperson, Joe Calvello.

"Initial tests did not show evidence of a new stroke, but doctors are running more tests and John is remaining overnight for observation," Calvello said.

-- Candy Woodall

Read the whole story here:Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke on campaign trail, hospitalized for lightheadedness

Biden schedule today

President Joe Biden will travel to Floriday as part of his post-State of the Union travel to bring his key issues to an outside-the-Beltway audience. He will focus today is on Social Security and Medicare.

Biden's event at 1:30 pm will be held in Tampa.

Biden to bring Social Security fight to Florida

President Joe Biden will continue his attacks on Republicans over Social Security and Medicare when he travels to Florida.

Biden has accused Republicans – including Florida Sen. Rick Scott – of endangering the popular retirement programs by proposing all federal legislation by renewed every five years. Scott says Biden is twisting his words.

Biden appeared to relish the dispute over the issue during his State of the Union address when Republican lawmakers interrupted his speech to challenge him.

Biden said Wednesday he hopes that means Republicans have agreed not to cut Social Security and Medicare but, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

– Maureen Groppe

More:Marjorie Taylor Greene, other Republicans spar with Biden over Social Security, Medicare

Subcommittee on weaponization of the government set to hold first hearing Thursday

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., will testify Thursday during a GOP-led hearing of the congressional subcommittee investigating the alleged weaponization of the government against Republicans.

Johnson plans to speak about the “roadblocks” he faced from government agencies during his investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, that concluded in 2020 while Johnson was the chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Johnson's office told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who recently quit the Democratic Party, and former FBI special agent Nicole Parker will also testify during the hearing, according to CNN, which was first to report the developments.

– Lawrence Andrea

Biden under scrutiny:House Republicans gear up investigations of the president

Biden: Republican investigations of my family 'won’t go very far'

President Joe Biden said House Republicans’ investigations into the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, and other members of his family "won’t go very far."

"The public’s not going to pay attention to that," Biden said in an interview Wednesday on PBS NewsHour. "They want these guys to do something. If the only thing they can do is make up things about my family, it’s not going to go very far."

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee held its first hearing Wednesday investigating the Biden family as former Twitter executives faced questions about media coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop. It's the start of a string of probes into the president that Republicans have long promised.

– Joey Garrison

7 takeaways from Twitter hearing:Hunter Biden laptop story enflames House lawmakers

Biden's most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the ...

New Judiciary panel will review discovery of classified documents in Biden's former office, home.

Oversight will probe Biden family business activities.

Democrats derided the inquiries as "deranged" and "far-right conspiracy nonsense."

WASHINGTON – House Republicans spent years ignored or drowned out in a Democratic Congress, but revelations about President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents handed two of his fiercest critics ammunition to investigate just as they became committee chairmen.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has already drawn the spotlight with rapid-fire questions pelting Democratic witnesses during hearings investigating former President Donald Trump. Now he leads the Judiciary Committee and a special subcommittee created to investigate the Biden administration, and he can set the agenda.

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky argued for greater scrutiny of the Biden family’s business dealings even before winning the gavel of the Oversight and Accountability Committee. He and Jordan pledged aggressive oversight on a variety of subjects even before they were sworn in now that the 2022 midterm elections handed control of the chamber to Republicans.

Biden and Trump documents expose wider problem:Missing classified records not uncommon

With their gavels, Jordan and Comer are armed with subpoena power and the megaphone of committee hearings to antagonize Biden through the 2024 election.

Andy Wright, a former Oversight Committee staffer and director of legal policy for the Biden-Harris presidential transition who is a partner at K&L Gates, said investigations are no surprise because they often heat up under divided government. Lawmakers want to bolster their legislative and policy goals amid more hearings, depositions and subpoenas, he said.

“There are a lot of significant consequences and significant policy issues that are going to be lurking in the background in addition to the partisan theater," Wright said.

5 key questions about Biden documents:5 key questions we still don't know about Biden documents

Fact check:Biden did have the authority to declassify documents as vice president

Biden's handling of classified documents spurs immediate inquiries

The revelations about the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s former office at a think tank in Washington and at his Wilmington home added fuel to the fire of House Republicans eager to investigate the administration.

Jordan sent a letter Friday with Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding documents and communications about the records between Biden’s office and the Justice Department, FBI and special counsel, Robert Hur.

“At this point, where did Joe Biden NOT have classified documents?” Jordan asked in a tweet Friday.

Garland appoints special counsel Robert Hur:Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints special counsel to investigate Biden's classified documents

About Garland's big decision:Garland faced pressure to appoint special counsel in Biden case – and maybe had no choice

Comer sent letters Jan. 10 to the White House and National Archives and Records Administration asking for all documents and communications – and transcribed interviews – about Biden's failure to return classified documents he received as vice president.

Comer sent another letter Friday to the White House asking whether the president's son Hunter Biden had access to the documents at his Wilmington house because he had listed the address as his home until at least 2018.

"The Committee is concerned President Biden stored classified documents at the same location as his son resided while engaging in international business deals with adversaries of the United States," Comer wrote.

Who is Jim Jordan, head of a new panel on the 'weaponization' of government?

Jordan has nettled leaders of both parties. He received the presidential medal of freedom from Trump after defending him through several investigations. And Jordan was a founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus who occasionally led his own party leaders over spending and health care.

Former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, once called Jordan a “legislative terrorist.”

In addition to his leading the Judiciary Committee, Republicans agreed in a party-line vote to create for him a special “subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government” to investigate the Justice Department and FBI, including "ongoing criminal investigations." Targets for inquiries include:

Democrats derided the inquiries as irrelevant grandstanding.

“We call that the tinfoil-hat committee in our caucus,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, Democratic Caucus chairman.

Who is special counsel Robert Hur?:Robert Hur tapped by Merrick Garland to lead Biden documents probe. Who is he?

Democrats said the committee would have broad power to investigate criminal cases. Critics seized on the potential participation of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., another Trump ally, who said last year that the FBI seized his cellphone and who has denied wrongdoing.

“Yet he has indicated he wants to be on this subcommittee so that he can undermine a criminal investigation into himself,” said Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment. “My Republican counterparts can dress up the subcommittee with a menacing name, but let’s call it what it really is: the Republican committee to obstruct justice.”

Jordan defied subpoena from Jan. 6 committee

Jordan is no stranger to congressional inquiries. He was one of five House Republicans subpoenaed in the investigation of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Each refused to testify and called the panel illegitimate for how it was organized, even though federal courts upheld its subpoenas. The Jan. 6 panel urged Ethics Committee inquiries into Jordan, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and three others.

McCarthy said he would have testified if Republicans had been able to name their own representatives to the committee. McCarthy submitted nominees, but then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected Jordan and another lawmaker, and McCarthy withdrew all his nominees. Instead, Pelosi appointed then-GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

McCarthy said Jordan's new subcommittee was necessary to investigate questions such as why the FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate but not Biden's home or office for confidential documents.

House GOP launch probe of Biden documents:House Republicans launch investigations into Biden's handling of classified documents

"I think Congress has to investigate this," McCarthy said. "Why did they handle that differently?"

Democrats criticized the special subcommittee as a political ploy to protect Republican allies.

“Speaker McCarthy is essentially handing Mr. Jordan the power to target anything he doesn’t like, anything and anyone he deems unconstitutional, illegal or unethical,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. He called the panel “a deranged ploy by the MAGA extremists who have hijacked the Republican Party and now want to use taxpayer money to push their far-right conspiracy nonsense.”

Jordan, Comer can issue subpoenas on their own

A key tool the House voted to grant the subcommittee is the power for the chairman to issue subpoenas by himself. The Oversight Committee chairman traditionally had this power and the Democratic-led House granted it to the Jan. 6 panel, but it is unusual for congressional committees.

Without that authority, chairpersons seeking a subpoena must schedule a business meeting, ensure enough lawmakers are present to vote and go through sometimes rancorous debate. The advantage for Jordan and Comer is their negotiations to compel testimony will be a much easier threat.

“That means Congress is going to have more leverage to get what it wants when it’s trying to get information," said Wright, the former Oversight Committee staffer. “The big question is going to be: What does the new majority decide to spend its time on? In all these investigations, you start with zero information and have to pry it loose."

Jan. 6 committee takes action on House Republicans:House Jan. 6 panel recommends inquiries for 4 GOP members at House Ethics Committee

Who is James Comer?

Comer, a former state lawmaker and agriculture commissioner who owned his own farm, rose to the top Republican slot on the Oversight Committee in his second full term in Congress. He won the high-profile gavel after only six years in office.

Comer had served six terms in the Kentucky state Legislature before becoming the state agriculture commissioner in 2011.

At the state agency and on the oversight panel, Comer focused on cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse.

Comer narrowly lost a campaign for governor in 2015 but counted himself out of another run this year because of the Oversight Committee chairmanship.

'Fairness and double standards':How Biden's classified documents debacle could become a political, legal liability

What is the Oversight Committee investigating?

Comer plans to investigate Biden’s family because of concerns he profited from business deals of his relatives in Ukraine and China, which the president has denied. Comer's panel is also casting a wide net, and targets include:

Revealing wasteful spending on COVID-19 relief. A hearing is scheduled Feb. 1.

Fighting alleged government bullying of social media companies to suppress information.

Scrutinizing work-from-home rules for the federal workforce.

Comer has asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for documents by Jan. 25 about a reported 150 alerts from U.S. banks about suspicious transactions involving Hunter Biden and the president's brother James Biden.

The suspicious-transaction reports aren’t necessarily nefarious, covering transactions greater than $5,000. The department received an estimated 3.6 million suspicious-transaction reports last year.

Biden selects attorney in document investigation:Reports: Biden selects top Democratic attorney as personal lawyer in classified documents probe

Comer also plans a hearing in February to question Twitter executives about accusations that the company censored news stories. He specifically cited stories in the New York Post about the Biden family's business activities.

“For years, the Biden family peddled influence and access around the world for profit, often at the expense of the nation’s interests,” Comer said. “The American people must know the extent of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s shady business deals and if these deals threaten national security and his decision-making as president.”

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel, accused Republicans of pursuing debunked conspiracy theories and the "deep state.”

“Conspiracy theories and disinformation are already at a fever pitch in the new Congress,” Raskin said.

Graphics:How Biden's case differs from Trump's classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago

Biden documents: Dig deeper

House Republicans vow to investigate Biden and his family's ...

CNN —

After clinching the majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, top Republicans on Thursday outlined a broad range of investigative targets focused on President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings.

“In the 118th Congress, this committee will evaluate the status of Joe Biden’s relationship with his family’s foreign partners and whether he is a President who is compromised or swayed by foreign dollars and influence,” said Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee. “I want to be clear: This is an investigation of Joe Biden, and that’s where the committee will focus in this next Congress.”

In a wide-ranging news conference flanked by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, who is expected to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Republicans on the oversight committee, Comer said Republicans have made connections between the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and the president that they believe requires further investigation. Comer said his team has spoken with multiple whistleblowers who say they were involved in schemes involving the Biden family, reviewed Hunter Biden’s laptop, and received “previously unknown transactions.”

Comer is specifically zeroing in on more than 100 bank activity reports – known as Suspicious Activity Reports – that are allegedly related to the Biden family and says that the Treasury Department has ignored his repeated requests when Republicans were in the minority to hand over them over.

So far, Comer says he has only seen two of those reports, and he renewed his request for the remainder of them today. Such reports are not always indicative of criminal activity or wrongdoing.

As part of his investigation, Comer said, “We would love to talk to people in the Biden family, specifically Hunter and Joe Biden.”

The White House said the investigations are politically motivated and a waste of time.

“Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories” spokesmen for the White House Counsel’s office, Ian Sams, said in a statement to CNN.

“President Biden is not going to let these political attacks distract him from focusing on Americans’ priorities, and we hope congressional Republicans will join us in tackling them instead of wasting time and resources on political revenge,” Sams added.

A spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Nelly Decker, said the Republicans “rehashed the same, partisan talking points” that have been circulating for years.

Video Ad Feedback President Biden on his son Hunter: 'I have great confidence in my son. I love him' 01:17 - Source: CNN

“Now that former President Trump is running for office again, House Republicans’ top priority is attacking President Biden and his family in a desperate attempt to return Mr. Trump to power,” Decker said in a statement.

Republicans had little ability to enforce their document requests while they were in the minority. But once the new Congress is sworn in in January, Republicans will gain subpoena power, a more powerful enforcement mechanism to try to compel individuals and government entities to hand over information.

Private attorneys representing Biden family members did not respond to requests for comment.

Zeroing in on suspicious activity reports

At the heart of Comer’s investigation is digging into a series of suspicious activity reports that Republicans claim banks have filed related to Hunter Biden’s financial activities. In a letter to the Treasury Department on Thursday, Comer sought any such reports related to various members of the Biden family, their business associates and companies linked to Hunter Biden.

Comer also is seeking communications within the Treasury Department, its financial crimes enforcement division and the White House regarding those family members and related businesses and associates.

While Republicans have seized on the suspicious activity reports as evidence that Joe Biden’s son was involved in problematic activities, such reports are not conclusive and do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing. Financial institutions file millions of suspicious activity reports each year and few lead to law enforcement inquiries.

Comer sent a letter to a financial adviser, who Comer has said was managing Hunter Biden’s finances, seeking any suspicious activity reports, as well as financial information about Hunter Biden. He is also seeking information from one of Hunter Biden’s former business partners, including communications related to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s finances, taxes and debts.

The letters were part of a new round Comer fired off to various government agencies and individuals Thursday seeking more information to further his probe.

He also asked the National Archives for flight manifests and other documents related to Air Force Two and Marine Two during Biden’s tenure as vice president, as well as communications related to Russia, Ukraine and Hunter Biden during his vice presidency.

From the FBI, he’s seeking any documents related to “foreign intelligence services’ efforts to compromise the Biden family” and information about Timothy Thibault, a former FBI agent that Republicans have accused of politicizing investigations. Thibault has denied wrongdoing.

Another letter went to Georges Bergés, the gallery owner who showcased and sold Hunter Biden’s artwork. Among the documents requested were communications with the White House and Hunter Biden, discussions about the pricing of Hunter Biden’s work, and rosters of those who attended Hunter Biden’s art shows and purchased his work.

Alleged ‘politicization’ at the FBI

Federal prosecutors have been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018 and have not brought any charges yet. When asked by CNN if they know whether the claims presented Thursday have already been investigated by federal prosecutors, Jordan said: “We don’t know.”

Jordan also said that under his leadership, the House Judiciary Committee will look into alleged “politicization” at the FBI. Jordan and other Republican lawmakers previously claimed that they’ve heard from FBI insiders about anti-conservative bias fueling FBI decision-making, especially at the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

“I’ve been in Congress a few years now, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jordan said. “Fourteen (FBI) agents come talk to us while we’re in the minority about how political that place has become.”

According to Jordan, the alleged politicization might include attempts by the FBI to suppress media coverage of the Hunter Biden story in 2020.

Many of these claims have been circulating in GOP circles during Biden’s administration – with Republicans taking over the House next year, they’ll have an official platform to investigate these matters and put them on full display.

At least one of the FBI agents that the GOP lawmakers are scrutinizing has previously denied any wrongdoing. The “whistleblowers” are anonymous and haven’t testified at any public Congressional hearings.

“The FBI has testified to Congress and responded to letters from legislators on numerous occasions to provide an accurate accounting of how we do our work” an FBI spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

“The men and women of the FBI devote themselves to protecting the American people from terrorism, violent crime, cyber threats and other dangers,” the spokesperson said. “Put quite simply: we follow the facts without regard for politics.”

Annie Grayer Sara Murray Marshall Cohen
Annie Grayer
Sara Murray
Marshall Cohen

Daily Briefing: The story behind the story about Hunter Biden's laptop

Former Twitter executives said a story about Hunter Biden's laptop was suppressed because of concerns about Russian meddling. Also in the news: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to travel Thursday to quake-hit provinces amid ongoing criticism that the government’s response has been too slow. We look at how K-12 schools are struggling to recover pandemic learning losses.

🙋🏼♀ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Check out these Black-owned businesses you can support this Black History Month.

Now, here we go with Thursday's news.

Takeaways from the Hunter Biden laptop hearing

The House hearing Wednesday into Twitter’s brief suppression of a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop outlined the queasiness of former executives to block links to the article and provided a bare-knuckle arena for partisan lawmakers to debate allegations against President Joe Biden.

The background: Former Twitter executives told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee the company blocked links to the New York Post story in October 2020 because of similarities to the posting of leaks from hacked Democratic computers before the 2016 election.

The executives called the 24-hour suppression a mistake and said it was difficult to judge between contentious and dangerous speech during a campaign. But Republican lawmakers argued Twitter’s decision could have thrown the election to Biden rather than former President Donald Trump.

and said it was difficult to judge between contentious and dangerous speech during a campaign. But Republican lawmakers argued Twitter’s decision could have thrown the election to Biden rather than former President Donald Trump. The laptop has become a focal point of Republican investigations because it contains a trove of documents and pictures about Hunter Biden. The first accusation in the New York Post story is that vice president Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general for investigating Burisma, a company that employed Hunter Biden.

of Republican investigations because it contains a trove of documents and pictures about Hunter Biden. The first accusation in the New York Post story is that vice president Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general for investigating Burisma, a company that employed Hunter Biden. Democrats called the hearing “silly” and a "bizarre political stunt" because Twitter is a private company free to make its own decisions about what to publish. Democrats also questioned the basic allegations against Biden stemming from the laptop as “categorically false.”

👉 Keep reading our takeaways from the hearing.

Deaths in Turkey, Syria earthquake surpass 16,000

The search for survivors grew more desperate, the homeless problem more acute and the death toll rose Thursday as rescuers labored to find signs of life amid the rubble of Monday's earthquakes and aftershocks that laid waste to a wide swath of Turkey and Syria. The total of 16,000-plus fatalities, the largest worldwide for an earthquake event in more than a decade, is expected to rise. Experts says the survival rate in an incident of this magnitude is below 25% after 72 hours, and the frigid temperatures make the chances even slimmer. Rescue experts say it will take months to stabilize the region and years to recover from the disaster. Read more

More news to know now

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Courthouse evacuated after reported bomb threat during Murdaugh trial

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division confirmed that a bomb threat was received by personnel at the Colleton County Courthouse Wednesday. The threat interrupted the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, 54, who has been accused of killing his family in an attempt to distract from his alleged financial crimes and buy time and sympathy. Just a few hours after jurors began hearing testimony, Judge Clifton Newman ordered that the courtroom be evacuated. The South Carolina Attorney General's Office confirmed that the threat was "phoned in." Read more

A Texas man pleaded guilty in a racist, deadly 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting.

Officials lift evacuation order for residents near Ohio train derailment

Evacuated residents can return to the Ohio village where crews burned toxic chemicals after a train derailed five days ago now that monitors show no dangerous levels of toxins in the air, authorities said Wednesday. Around-the-clock testing inside and outside the evacuation zone around the village of East Palestine and a sliver of Pennsylvania showed the air had returned to normal levels that would have been seen before the derailment, said James Justice of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Hundreds and hundreds of data points we've collected over the time show the air quality is safe," he said. Read more

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How do we recover pandemic learning losses?

Half of the nation's students began this school year a full year behind grade level in at least one subject because of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, new national data from the federal Education Department shows. It's as if students are doing the 2021-22 school year all over again. K-12 schools are experimenting with myriad strategies – from social-emotional learning to high-dosage tutoring to individualized learning – to catch kids up. But even with all of those interventions, however, students may have a long way to go. Read more

📷 Photo of the day: Award-winning 'dream' image of a leopard at sunset 📷

A German photographer has won The Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award. Out of 25 images selected as finalists, Sascha Fonseca's image of a snow leopard posed against the Indian Himalayas was chosen by thousands of voters. Click here to read more about the story behind the image.

One more thing

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No directive: FBI agents, tech executives deny government ordered ...

CNN —

Internal Twitter communications released by the company’s new owner and CEO, Elon Musk, are fueling intense scrutiny of the FBI’s efforts alongside social media companies to thwart foreign disinformation in the run-up to the 2020 election.

At the heart of the controversy is Twitter’s decision in October 2020 to block users from sharing a New York Post story containing material from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. Conservative critics have accused Twitter of suppressing the story at the behest of the FBI, something they claim the released communications, dubbed the “Twitter Files,” demonstrate.

Musk himself has alleged the communications show government censorship, suggesting Twitter acted “under orders from the government” when it suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story.

But so far, none of the released messages explicitly show the FBI telling Twitter to suppress the story. In fact, the opposite view emerges from sworn testimony by an FBI agent at the center of the controversy. And in interviews with CNN, half a dozen tech executives and senior staff, along with multiple federal officials familiar with the matter, all deny any such directive was given.

“We would never go to a company to say you need to squelch this story,” said one former FBI official who helped oversee the government’s cooperation with companies including Twitter, Google and Facebook.

Elon Musk has suggested internal Twitter communications reveal improper behavior by the FBI in its effort to thwart foreign influence campaigns Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Musk and his conservative allies have insinuated the released messages provide evidence of illicit behavior by the FBI, suggesting the exchange of secret files pertaining to Hunter Biden, and improper payments made to Twitter. But CNN’s interviews with people directly involved with the interactions and with those who have reviewed the documents disprove those claims.

Matt Taibbi, one of the journalists Musk tapped this month to comb through Twitter internal messages for evidence of free speech violations, said himself on December 2 that “there is no evidence - that I’ve seen - of any government involvement in the laptop story.”

What is clear, however, is that following Russia’s meddling campaign in 2016, plus after years of interactions with federal agents about how to spot foreign disinformation efforts, Twitter executives were hyper suspicious of anything that looked like foreign influence and were primed to act, even without direction from the government.

By the time the New York Post published its laptop story on October 14, 2020, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s then head of site integrity, had spent two years meeting with the FBI and other government officials. He was prepared for some kind of hack and leak operation.

“There were lots of reasons why the entire industry was on alert,” Roth said at a conference in November, not long after he resigned from Twitter. Roth insists he was not in favor of blocking the story and thought the company’s decision was a mistake.

As the released communications show, Twitter initially acted to suppress the story for a few days in part out of concerns that Hunter Biden, the son of the then-Democratic presidential candidate, was being targeted as part of a foreign election interference operation similar to the one Russia carried out in 2016.

What Twitter did not know at the time was that Hunter Biden was the subject of a federal criminal investigation. Since as early as 2018, the Justice Department has been investigating Hunter Biden for his business activities in foreign countries. In late 2019, nearly a year before the story first emerged in the New York Post, the FBI had used a subpoena to obtain a laptop that Biden allegedly left behind at a Delaware computer repair store.

According to sources at the FBI and at Twitter who spoke to CNN, none of that information was disclosed to Twitter executives trying to decide how to treat the laptop story, nor to anyone else for that matter.

“It was an ongoing investigation, so I would never approve of talking about it,” said the former FBI official.

GOP scrutiny

While the released Twitter messages have yet to reveal a smoking gun showing the government ordered a social media company to suppress a story, Republicans on Capitol Hill say there are enough questions raised by the internal communications to merit calling tech executives to testify.

Scrutiny is building around the role of Twitter’s recently-fired deputy general counsel James Baker, a former top FBI official who joined Twitter in the summer of 2020. The released documents show Baker was in regular contact with his former colleagues at the FBI, giving rise to rampant accusations from conservatives that he was the conduit for the government to pressure Twitter.

In some of the material released by Twitter, an email shows Baker setting up a meeting – in the midst of Twitter’s internal deliberations about how to handle the New York Post story – with Matthew Perry, an attorney in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel. It is not clear what the two discussed.

The FBI declined to discuss any communications Baker had with FBI officials once he arrived at Twitter.

Baker is among a number of former Twitter executives called to testify this month by Republican Rep. James Comer, the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee. Baker declined to comment for this story.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) attends a House Oversight Committee hearing on July 27, 2022 Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File

Comer also wants to hear from several former US intelligence officials who, days after the laptop story broke, wrote an open letter saying it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The group of former officials who signed the letter included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who, as a CNN contributor, appeared on the network to express his view.

Though the former officials admitted, “we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” their letter set the tone for much of the early discussion and coverage of the laptop.

In a statement to CNN, the FBI said, “The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries. As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers.

“The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.”

Allegations of illicit behavior

Among the messages given the most attention from Musk and other critics are a series of emails between Roth and Elvis Chan, an FBI special agent based in San Francisco, where he focuses on cybersecurity and foreign influence on social media. On October 13, the day before New York Post story published, Chan instructed Roth to download ten documents on a secure portal.

Roth responded, “received and downloaded – thanks!”

Michael Shellenberger, who is among those Musk has entrusted with access to the internal messages, wrote about the Chan communication with Roth. Shellenberger does not describe the contents of the files, but he does insinuate that the timing of the message suggests Chan was secretly providing Roth information about the Hunter laptop.

At the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, a team reviewing the internal communications released by Musk says it has identified the 10 documents Chan sent to Roth. “I reviewed all 10 of these documents personally and I can say explicitly there is nothing in these 10 documents about Hunter Biden’s laptop or about any related story to that,” an FBI official involved in the review told CNN.

The official said eight of the documents pertained to “malign foreign influence actors and activities,” the FBI’s terminology for foreign government election meddling. The official said the other two documents were posts on Twitter the FBI flagged as potential evidence of election-related crimes, such as voter suppression activities.

Another interaction that has drawn suspicion is an internal message from early 2021 that Shellenberger cites showing that the FBI paid Twitter $3.4 million beginning October 2019. In the message, an unnamed associate emails Baker saying, “I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!”

The FBI says the bureau is obligated under federal law to reimburse companies for the cost they incur to satisfy subpoenas and other legal requests as part of the FBI’s investigative work.

The FBI describes its discussions with Twitter as the type of information-sharing that Congress and both the Trump and Biden administrations encouraged to help tech companies and social media platforms protect themselves and their users. The released messages appear to show that FBI officials repeatedly noted that it was up to the content moderators at the company to take action if a post violated their rules.

“All the information exchanged is about the actors and their activity,” a second FBI official who reviewed the communications told CNN. “What we are not providing is specifics about the content and the narrative. We are also not directing the platforms to do anything. We are just providing it for them to do as they see fit under their own terms of service to protect their platforms and customers.”

Ghosts of 2016

After the 2016 election, social media executives knew they had a problem. Russian operatives had used their platforms to run a massive covert influence campaign to help elect Donald Trump, using bots to spread disinformation and sow division among Americans.

To prepare for the next election, the executives set about bolstering their internal controls, including hiring former law enforcement and intelligence officials. But they also knew they had to forge a closer relationship with the US government to help root out foreign trolls and sources of disinformation.

President Donald Trump chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at a summit in 2017. Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP/Getty

What followed were a series of regular meetings with federal agents that began in May 2018.

The released communications as well as interviews with people involved in the meetings portray routine, friendly and sometimes tense contacts between company executives and the government officials with whom they regularly interacted. Among the released communications are lively exchanges between Twitter and the FBI, revealing some of the sensitivities — and tensions — at play as the government and Silicon Valley slowly figured out how to work together.

One former FBI official who spoke to CNN recalls that tech executives would insist on meetings away from their campuses, in part because government agents weren’t welcome. Feelings in Silicon Valley toward the intelligence community were still raw since the Edward Snowden leaks detailed a vast data collection apparatus that targeted the tech companies.

“Early on, who hosted the meeting was also a political football,” said a person familiar with the meetings between the government and Silicon Valley. “Each company wanted someone else to. There were worries about employees seeing a bunch of feds and leaking it in an inaccurate way.”

One tech source, however, dismissed this and said companies offered their offices for the meetings out of a shared sense of responsibility.

Nevertheless, the meetings went ahead. The first one took place at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park. Later meetings were held at Twitter and LinkedIn’s offices, a person familiar with the meetings told CNN.

Some of the early interactions were terse. Reports published by CNN and other news organizations described complaints from some tech executives that the FBI was sharing only limited information, useless to help the companies protect their platforms.

A telling moment came early on when a government lawyer lectured tech executives about the limits on what the government can do to help, multiple people who attended the meeting told CNN. One Silicon Valley executive described how the lawyer gave a 20-minute speech about the First Amendment and insisted that “government representatives can’t tell the companies to take any content down.”

Former Twitter employees and FBI officials involved say that by 2020, their discussions had become better coordinated and useful to both sides. One indicator of how advantageous the relationship had become: By 2020, Facebook was issuing press releases about some of the discussions.

Rumors of a hack-and-leak operation

Musk and other critics of the interactions point to released messages that they claim show a cozy relationship between the government and Twitter. But the messages also show Roth, Twitter’s then head of site integrity, repeatedly pushing back against asks from the FBI.

At various points, the Twitter communications show Roth resisting pressure to reveal certain information about users absent a formal legal request, such as which third-party VPN services were used by some account-holders to access Twitter.

Yoel Roth Patrick Farrell/Knight Foundation

Roth also shut down a request that the company share more of its data with intelligence officials.

Others within Twitter noted the US government’s interest in Twitter’s data and urged colleagues to “stay connected and keep a solid front against these efforts.”

Conservative critics continue to blame Roth for Twitter’s suppression of the laptop story, but he insists he didn’t make the final call and says he thought it was a mistake. “It is widely reported that I personally directed the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story,” Roth said last month. “It is absolutely, unequivocally untrue.”

Exactly who in Twitter’s leadership ultimately made the call to block the story remains unclear.

In December 2020, Roth gave a sworn declaration to the Federal Election Commission saying the government had warned of expected hack-and-leak incidents targeting people associated with political campaigns. Roth said that he learned in the meetings with government agencies there were “rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would involve Hunter Biden.”

Roth did not point to the government as the source of the rumor, but his claim that law enforcement agencies gave general warnings about disinformation campaigns dovetails with recent testimony from Chan, the FBI agent who played a key role in the meetings.

Chan was deposed this year as part of a lawsuit brought by the Missouri attorney general alleging government censorship of social media. Chan disputed that the government told social media companies to “expect” hack-and-leak campaigns, saying that it would have only warned companies it was a possibility.

That Hunter Biden might be the target of a hack-and-leak operation was being publicly discussed at the time, after it emerged that Burisma Holdings, a company he worked with in Ukraine had reportedly been hacked by Russian military intelligence early in 2020.

Chan also testified that government agents never raised Hunter Biden specifically, and that his name came up only when a Facebook analyst asked specifically for relevant information. An FBI agent in the meeting declined to answer, Chan recalled, adding that she was likely not authorized to address the question because at the time the FBI had not publicly confirmed its Hunter Biden investigation.

Evan Perez Donie O'Sullivan Brian Fung
Evan Perez
Donie O'Sullivan
Brian Fung

Joe Biden under scrutiny as House Republicans gear up probes

House Republicans are investigating President Biden on a number of issues

Topics include Hunter Biden's business dealings, border security, and classified documents

The White House has organized a team to defend Biden and attack the GOP for political motives

Historically, Republican Congresses have investigated Democratic presidents - and vice-versa

WASHINGTON – One political party controls the U.S. House and the other party holds the presidency – so you know what that means.

It's time to investigate the president again.

As with previous Congresses, the newly empowered House Republicans are engaged in a plethora of probes of President Joe Biden and his allies, from border security and the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal to Joe Biden's classified documents and son Hunter Biden's laptop.

To the Republicans, it's about oversight of the executive branch. "This administration needs checks and balances – any administration needs checks and balances," said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who will be supervising many of the investigations as chair of the House Oversight Committee.

Aides to Biden, as with previous presidents, see it as something else: politics designed to hurt the incumbent ahead of an election year. While White House officials have pledged to cooperate with Republican investigators, they are also organized and prepared to respond to what they regard as unfair inquiries.

Battle of the government branches: After a turbulent January, House GOP focuses back on Biden with slate of investigations

Here are some of the things to look for in the months ahead:

Aggressive Republicans

Republican investigators take a big public step Wednesday when the House Oversight Committee holds a hearing on how Twitter handled news reports of Hunter Biden's laptop, which included some of his business records – the morning after Biden delivers his State of the Union message.

The Biden family: Hunter Biden lawyers urge probes of Trump allies, demand Tucker Carlson retract reporting

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, cited the GOP's investigation into the so-called "weaponization of the federal government" by telling reporters: "We'll issue the subpoenas and try to get the information, documents that we need."

GOP risk from the right

Republicans are planning any number of public hearings, and most will be traditional in nature, with a series of opening statements by committee members and questioning of witnesses.

There's no indication, yet, that the GOP will follow the approach of last year's special committee investigating the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. That committee hired a former television executive who orchestrated made-for-TV hearings featuring dramatic video of the riot and witness depositions.

It's classified: House Republicans launch investigations into Biden's handling of classified documents

The MTG factor

The upcoming hearings will also test how much attention the Republicans are paying to conspiracy theories regarding Biden and his family and allies. Some GOP members may also use the hearings to promote the 2024 campaign of former President Donald Trump.

Some ultra-conservative members, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have been calling for Biden's impeachment since he began his term two years ago.

Greene and other Republicans have also called for impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, another target of GOP investigations over border security.

Republicans with subpoenas: Biden’s most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines – with subpoena power

McCarthy's dilemma

Numerous congressional Republicans campaigned on pledges to thoroughly investigate Biden, but their efforts could complicate other parts of the GOP agenda.

That means new GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy must walk a tightrope between working with Democrats to get things done and giving conservative hardliners enough Biden-related red meat so he can get bills through his narrow Republican majority.

McCarthy and Biden: How Medicare and Social Security benefits factor into the Kevin McCarthy debt ceiling fight

It could be especially challenging for Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Ind., the congressman tasked with corralling the votes in a Republican caucus that can only lose four and still get legislation passed.

"With a narrow majority, it’s about every voice," he told USA TODAY. "Every issue can be challenging."

Biden and the Democrats: defense and offense

Like previous administrations, the Biden White House has set up a team of aides to monitor the Republican investigations, a group that includes members of the White House counsel's office and communications staff, according to administration officials. They have been working with Democratic members of Congress for months, preparing defenses and potential counter-attacks.

A team of White House communications, legislative and legal staff members has also been working with federal agencies throughout the administration since the summer of 2022 to prepare for Republican-led investigations, officials said. And a White House team has been mapping out possible GOP lines of investigation, as well.

Outside Democratic groups are also helping Biden's cause.

One organization, called Facts First USA, said it plans to monitor the investigations and speak out publicly to "keep the focus on facts in the face of abuse of government oversight being used to settle partisan scores."

David Brock, president of Facts First USA, said that, as with previous investigations of presidents, Republican overkill will be used against them when election time rolls around.

"The public understands this is a political exercise," Brock told USA TODAY.

House Democrats speak out

House Democrats see a silver lining to GOP attacks on the president: They could help his party win again in 2024.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Democratic ally from Biden’s native Pennsylvania and the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said investigations of previous Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama wound up in many ways backfiring against the Republicans.

Clinton and Obama both won re-election.

“What failed in the 90s and the last decade will fail again this year,” Boyle said to USA TODAY.

A long history

The Biden investigations are only the latest act in a long-running political play.

Even President George Washington, the very first president, saw one of his generals investigated by Congress for poor performance.

Over the decades, investigations have covered any number of historic events: Abraham Lincoln and the conduct of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant and government corruption, Richard Nixon and Watergate, and Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra affair.

Douglas Kriner, a political science professor at Cornell University who has written on this topic, said investigations have often addressed significant policy disputes, but have also had "political overtones."

"Politics has always been a key part of the game," he said.

A polarizing era

Politically divided government has been frequent over the past half-century, fueling polarization as party members side with their team over all else.

These tensions have inevitably seeped into investigations, including the impeachments of Clinton and Trump.

Claire Leavitt, an assistant professor of government at Smith College who studies congressional oversight, said that "the number of investigations increases significantly under divided government." She added that "this trend applies exclusively to the past 30 years."

Watching the polls

As Republicans proceed with investigations of Biden, members of both parties will be keeping sharp eyes on voter opinion.

A Pew Research Center survey this week said that 65% of respondents are "more concerned that Republicans in Congress will focus too much on investigating the Biden administration, while 32% are more concerned that congressional Republicans will focus too little on this."

At the same time, the Republicans are being pressured by base voters. The same Pew poll said that "56% of Republicans and Republican leaners say they are more concerned that their party’s representatives in Congress will not focus enough on investigating the administration."

House Republicans seek testimony from Twitter employees | CNN ...

CNN —

House Republicans say they will seek congressional testimony from top Twitter employees who oversaw the company’s handling of a New York Post report on Hunter Biden’s laptop in public hearings when Republicans officially reclaim control of the House in the next Congress, indicating that probes into digital content moderation will figure prominently.

On Tuesday, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican and likely next chairman of the House Oversight Committee, wrote to three people who reportedly played key roles in the decision to temporarily suppress the Post’s story in the weeks before the 2020 election, calling on them to speak about what Comer described as “Big Tech’s control of free discourse and information sharing.”

The letters addressed to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s former head of legal, policy and trust; Yoel Roth, its former site integrity lead; and James Baker, deputy general counsel, request the three individuals testify at a public, full committee hearing in the next Congress. CNN has reached out to all three individuals seeking comment.

The letters warn each recipient that they “have been identified as a figure central to suppressing information regarding President Biden and his family prior to an American election.”

Asked about the possibility of subpoenas for the individuals, Jessica Collins, a committee spokesperson, told CNN the former and current employees were expected to cooperate.

“The Committee is prepared to use any tools at its disposal to ensure their cooperation in order to provide transparency to the American people,” Collins said.

Comer’s letters come days after the journalist Matt Taibbi reported on internal Twitter communications that showed the three officials debating how to handle the Post story. The release of the records had been teased and amplified by Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, who promised that it would reveal “what really happened” inside Twitter that day.

Taibbi presented evidence that suggested the effort to suppress the Post story was coordinated. But the reported records largely affirm existing accounts of the incident. They showed how Twitter’s policy and legal employees grappled with the decision, and faced questions from the company’s communications officials about how to explain the move to the public. They also backed up public statements by Roth that Twitter feared the Post report could have been the result of a Russian “hack-and-leak” operation, consistent with general warnings by about foreign election meddling that US law enforcement had been providing to the company. Roth has also said in December 2020 sworn testimony submitted to the Federal Election Commission that in the meetings with law enforcement there was mention of “rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would involve Hunter Biden.”

The communications reported by Taibbi showed Twitter employees acting cautiously by suppressing the Post article for fear of spreading what they believed could have been hacked materials, and internal debate over the best course of action. Taibbi also said he has found no evidence in the Twitter records of government involvement in the Hunter Biden story. To date, there has not been any indication the material behind the Post story was part of a Russian information operation.

Taibbi has said he received the internal communications from “sources at Twitter,” and that he agreed to a number of unspecified conditions with Twitter in exchange for being able to report on the records.

Then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, in separate congressional testimony, later acknowledged that the decision had been a mistake. Roth has since echoed those remarks, agreeing it was a mistake and saying the Post story “didn’t reach a place where I was comfortable removing” it from Twitter. (Taibbi reported that Dorsey was not initially aware of the decision.)