FBI agents involved in briefing Facebook about Hunter Biden story donated to Democrats, records show

Both officials are named in the lawsuit alleging that the Biden administration colluded with social media companies to censor free speech.

By Madeleine Hubbard

Published: October 11, 2022 12:31pm

Updated: October 11, 2022 2:22pm

Two FBI officials who briefed Facebook's parent company, Meta, about Hunter Biden's laptop also donated to Democrats in 2020, campaign finance records show.

The findings are connected to a lawsuit from states claiming the federal government colluded with social media firms to censor free speech. And the agents – FBI Foreign Influence Task Force Chief Laura Dehmlow and FBI San Francisco Cyber Division Chief Elvis Chan – are each named in the suit.

A court filing in connection with the suit alleges that Chan and Dehmlow were "involved in the communications between the FBI and Meta that led to Facebook's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story."

The New York Post late in the 2020 election between then-President Trump and Democrat challenger Joe Biden published a story about a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, son of now-President Biden, that appeared to have information about the Biden family's questionable overseas business dealings. However, Twitter restricted the redistribution of the story.

Federal Elections Commission filings show that Chan donated a total of $100 to the Senate campaigns for Georgia Democrat Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

Dehmlow donated $10 on six different occasions to the Democratic National Committee in 2020.

Chan and Dehmlow are among the 67 defendants named in Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry's lawsuit against the Biden administration for allegedly working with social media companies to censor speech.