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2025-07-02 Government Corruption
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FBI blocked probe into alleged Chinese 2020 election meddling to protect Wray from fallout, documents show
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[FoxNews] 'Now’s the time to rebuild the FBI’s trust,' said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley
The FBI blocked an investigation into allegations that the Chinese Communist Party manufactured fake driver’s licenses and shipped them to the U.S. in a scheme to influence the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden because it would "contradict" then-FBI Director Christopher Wray’s congressional testimony, newly declassified FBI documents obtained by Fox News Digital reveal.
The records, which include communications between FBI officials ahead of the 2020 election, were recently declassified by FBI Director Kash Patel and transmitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Fox News Digital reported in June that Patel located and declassified the original reporting document alleging the Chinese Communist Party sought to deliver fake driver’s licenses to Chinese sympathizers in the U.S. who would cast a vote for Biden in the 2020 election. The document did not say whether any ballots were cast as part of the scheme.
The FBI recalled that reporting, though, Sept. 25, 2020 – just a day after Wray testified before Congress that the FBI had not seen any coordinated voter fraud ahead of the 2020 election.
The FBI, at the time, had recalled that report "in order to re-interview the source." It also directed "recipients" of the original report to "destroy all copies of the original report and remove the original report from all computer holdings."
But Patel, this week, declassified additional documents, including records relating to the re-interview of the source, and communications between FBI officials at the time discussing the decision-making behind the recall and its decision not to republish the intelligence reporting.
The records were sent to Grassley and Fox News Digital has reviewed the records.
"Although the source was reengaged and provided additional context to support the initial IIR, FBI Headquarters maintained its position not to republish the report," Assistant FBI Director Marshall Yates wrote in a letter to Grassley, obtained by Fox News Digital. "One reason cited for not releasing the IIR was because ‘the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.’"
During a Senate hearing on Sept. 24, 2020, Wray said he had not seen any widespread fraud by mail, and if he had, it would be something that we would investigate seriously… and aggressively."
"We have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it is by mail or otherwise," Wray testified. But "people should make no mistake. We are vigilant as to the threat and watching it carefully, because we are in uncharted new territory."
But Wray also testified that the Chinese had been "expanding their influence efforts," saying they had been "looking for different ways to take a page out of the malign foreign influence playbook that they have seen elsewhere."
Yates, in his letter to Grassley, explained that the recall of the original reporting document was "abnormal."
"The rationale provided to Albany staff for the recall was that Headquarters deemed the report not ‘authoritative,’ but this characterization was met with disagreement by those in the Albany office," Yates explained.
Grassley told Fox News Digital: "These records smack of political decision-making and prove the Wray-led FBI to be a deeply broken institution. Ahead of a high-stakes election happening amid an unprecedented global pandemic, the FBI turned its back on its national security mission."
"One way or the other, intelligence must be fully investigated to determine whether it’s true or if it’s just smoke and mirrors," Grassley said.
Fox News Digital was unable to reach Wray for comment.
The report was recalled at the direction of Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Nikki Floris.
Fox News Digital first reported that Floris was the FBI official to deliver a "defensive briefing" to Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in August 2020, claiming that their Hunter Biden investigation advanced Russian disinformation.
The FBI declassified internal emails among Albany, New York, staff, obtained by Fox News Digital, reflecting concerns that suppressing the document would be "dangerous if we cite potential political implications as reasons for not putting out our information."
Yates explained that it "was not the role of analysts to align intelligence with public testimony."
"Albany staff further warned against FBI assuming the role of sole gatekeeper for the Intelligence Community (IC), emphasizing that suppressing field-generated reporting could deprive other IC elements of the opportunity to corroborate or discredit intelligence," Yates said.
In an email on Sept. 30, 2020, reviewed by Fox News Digital, agents questioned why the report could not be released, to which another replied: "Again, the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony." 
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-07-02 00:00||
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