Elections
FBI verified Hunter Biden laptop in 2019, knew contents contained evidence of ‘white collar crime’
Whistleblower Gary Shapley Jr., who was the supervisor of the investigation into Hunter Biden, testified that the “FBI became aware that a repair shop had a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden and that the laptop might contain evidence of a crime.”
“The FBI verified its authenticity in November of 2019 by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID,” Shapley said. “When the FBI took possession of the device in December 2019, they notified the IRS that it likely contained evidence of tax crimes.”
Shapley said the FBI verified the authenticity of the laptop, even though many Biden allies said it was Russian disinformation.
Fox News reports:
The FBI’s property receipt for the laptop, first obtained by Fox News Digital in 2020, had a “Case ID” section, which was filled in with a handwritten number: 272D-BA-3065729.
The number “272” is the FBI’s classification for money laundering, while “272D” refers to “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA [Specified Unlawful Activity]—White Collar Crime Program,” according to FBI documents. One government official described “272D” as “transnational or blanket.”
During his testimony, Shapley testified that the investigation, which was codenamed “Sportsman,” was opened in November 2018 as an “offshoot” of an IRS investigation into a “foreign-based amateur online pornography platform.”
Fox News reports that the investigation had previously been believed to have been predicated, in part, by suspicious foreign transactions. Nearly a year later, in October 2019, Shapley said the “FBI became aware that a repair shop had a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden and that the laptop might contain evidence of a crime.”
Testimony from Shapley continued:
In October 2020 that Shapley said he emailed Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, saying: “We need to talk about the computer.”
Shapley said the FBI appeared to have been making “certain representations about the device, and the only reason we know what is on the device is because of the IRS CI affiant search warrant that allowed access to the documents.”
“My management has to be looped into whatever the FBI is doing with the laptop,” Shapley said he wrote in an Oct. 19, 2020 email to Wolf. “It is IRS CI’s responsibility to know what is happening. Let me know when I can be briefed on this issue.”
Shapley said his email led to “a special meeting” on Oct. 22, 2020 with the prosecution team and the FBI’s computer analysis team to discuss Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“We once again objected that we still had not been given access to the laptop,” Shapley said, noting that Wolf admitted that she did not see the laptop because “prosecutors decided to keep it from the investigators.”
“This decision is unprecedented in my experience,” Shapley said. “Investigators assigned to this investigation were obstructed from seeing all the available evidence.”
Shapley further testified that it is “unknown if all the evidence in the laptop was reviewed by agents or by prosecutors.”
Shapley had testified that Wolf had worked to “limit” questioning related to Joe Biden—referring to him as “dad” or “the big guy.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a longtime supporter of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is now acknowledging the unintended consequences of the healthcare legislation, particularly its impact on industry consolidation and rising healthcare prices.
Warren, who has been a vocal proponent of Obamacare, has recently had what the Wall Street Journal reported as an “epiphany” regarding the consequences of the healthcare law. In a letter addressed to the Health and Human Services Department inspector general, Warren, along with Senator Mike Braun of Indiana, expressed concerns about vertically-integrated healthcare companies potentially increasing prescription drug costs and evading federal regulations.
According to reports from Fox News, the bipartisan letter highlighted issues with the nation’s largest health insurers allegedly bypassing Obamacare’s medical loss ratio (MLR). According to Warren, these insurers, through vertical integration, have manipulated the system, leading to “sky-high prescription drug costs and excessive corporate profits.”
The senators detailed how conglomerates, like UnitedHealth Group, with ownership across various healthcare sectors, could inflate medical payments to pharmacies and, by realizing those payments on the pharmacy side, appear to comply with MLR requirements while retaining more profits.
Moreover, despite the Democrats’ argument that the MLR would benefit patients, it has incentivized insurers to merge with or acquire pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), retail and specialty pharmacies, and healthcare providers. This, in turn, has made healthcare spending less transparent, as insurers can allegedly shift profits to their affiliates by increasing reimbursements.
Warren, who has consistently voted against Obamacare repeal efforts, notably advocated for a “Medicare for All” proposal during her 2020 presidential campaign. Despite her prior support for the healthcare law, Warren’s recent concerns about its unintended consequences have raised questions about the long-term effects of Obamacare and its impact on the healthcare industry.
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