Rep. Dan Goldman denies Hunter Biden laptop is 'real,' revives debunked Russian minisnformation theory
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., denied that the information contained in Hunter Biden's laptop hard drive is accurate on Thursday, reviving a debunked claim that the laptop contained Russian disinformation.
Goldman questioned journalist Michael Shellenberger on the topic of Biden's laptop during a Thursday hearing with the House Judiciary Committee. Goldman has repeatedly denied the veracity of what was found on the laptop despite FBI testimony to the contrary.
"You are aware, of course, that the ‘laptop,’ so to speak, that was published in the New York Post was actually a hard drive that the New York Post admitted here was not authenticated as real?" Goldman asked.
"It was the same contents," Shellenberger responded.
"How do you know it's the same contents?" Goldman pressed.
"Because it's the same contents. Everyone has verified that it's the same contents," Shellenberger said.
"You'd have to authenticate it to know that it's the same contents. You have no idea. You know hard drives can be manipulated," Goldman argued.
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"Are you suggesting that the New York Post participated in a conspiracy to construct the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop?" Shellenberger asked.
"No, sir. The problem is that hard drives can be manipulated by Rudy Giuliani or Russia," Goldman suggested.
"What's the evidence that that happened?" Shellenberger pressed.
"There is evidence of it, but the point is it's not the same thing," Goldman said.
"So you're engaging in a conspiracy theory," Shellenberger said before being cut off.
Skeptics of the New York Post's original story on Biden's laptop suggested that it may have contained Russian disinformation, citing FBI speculation at the time. FBI agent Laura Dehmlow, who served as Section Chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force at the time, testified in July that the bureau "conditioned" social media companies to believe the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, despite knowing it was legitimate.
"Put simply, after the FBI conditioned social media companies to believe that the laptop was the product of a hack-and-dump operation, the Bureau stopped its information sharing, allowing social media companies to conclude that the New York Post story was Russian disinformation," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray this summer.
The laptop hard dive contained salacious information about Biden's personal life as well as his business dealings.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.