An FBI Agent who repeatedly avoided testifying before the House Judiciary Committee once described his “mandate” to flag online speech for social media companies, a newly unearthed email shows.
FBI Agent Elvis Chan, a member of the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), wrote an email in October 2020 where he explained how his “mandate” from the FBI was to coordinate with social media platforms on censoring speech, according to a report released Monday by the House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on Weaponization. (RELATED: DHS Subdivision Played Central Role In Attempts To Censor Donald Trump, House Report Finds)
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The report details how the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) worked with third parties to flag election related speech to social media platforms ahead of the 2020 presidential election. (RELATED: Government Censors Linked Hunter Biden Laptop Story To Apparent ‘Web Of Falsehoods’ About Joe Biden, Lawsuit Reveals)
The outside organizations include CISA-funded Center for Internet Security (CIS) and the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a coalition of outside groups that specialize in “disinformation” including the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) within Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center.
Elvis Chan scheduled a briefing with the SIO, FBI, and National Security Agency (NSA) about the EIP’s work on flagging posts for social media companies, SIO Director and former Facebook executive Alex Stamos testified to the House Judiciary Committee, the report outlines.
“Elvis Chan had set up the – so the meeting was set up because Nakasone had come to campus. Elvis was the facilitator who provided the space and participated, listened to the briefing in San Francisco,” Stamos stated. General Paul Nakasone was appointed NSA Director by former President Donald Trump and he continues to lead the agency.
The SIO provided updates to the FBI leading up to the 2020 presidential election. On Oct. 5, 2020, Stamos emailed Chan with questions about his work and the “mandate” he was given, the Judiciary Committee report shows.
“The FBI [San Francisco] mandate is to be the conduit to/from the social media companies for all election related threats, whether foreign or domestic. We’ve been receiving mostly domestic voter suppression-related accounts to flag for social media companies as each state had its primaries,” Chan responded on Oct. 6, 2020.
The “Twitter files” series of reports on the company’s internal workings showed Chan was a conduit between the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and social media platforms.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan attempted multiple times to have Chan testify before the House Judiciary Committee in September and October beginning on Sept. 15. His testimony fell through on Sept. 15 because of a dispute with the Department of Justice (DOJ), as the Daily Caller previously reported.
Chan was subpoenaed to testify on Sept. 21 and failed to appear for his scheduled interview, prompting Jordan to issue a second subpoena. He was then scheduled to interview on Oct. 5 and did not show up, a source confirmed to the Daily Caller. The DOJ reportedly directed Chan not to show up for his testimony because of the prior dispute. (RELATED: FBI Agent Accused Of Lying About Censoring Hunter Biden Laptop Dodges Testimony Before Jim Jordan, Source Confirms)
In August, Jordan accused Chan of lying under oath about his role in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story, based on internal Facebook documents he obtained.
THE FACEBOOK FILES PART 4. FBI LIED ABOUT MEETING WITH BIG TECH REGARDING NY POST’S HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY
Internal FB docs reveal that an FBI Special Agent made false statements in testimony about the FBI’s role in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story
🧵 Thread:
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) August 7, 2023
Chan was one of the FBI FITF agents who participated in a meeting with Facebook on Oct. 14, 2020, where the FBI refused to tell the platform whether the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop reporting was authentic, according to testimony from then-FITF Section Chief Laura Dehmlow. On the same day the FBI met with Twitter about the laptop, the platform censored the contents from being disseminated based on its “hacked materials” policy.
Chan was deposed in November 2022 as part of the landmark Missouri v. Biden First Amendment lawsuit challenging the federal government’s ability to coordinate with social media platforms.
“I was confident that I was not a party to any meeting with social media companies where Hunter Biden was discussed outside of the one incident that I told you about,” Chan stated. He also said he was unaware of any other communications between the FBI and Facebook related to the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Jordan disclosed in August an internal Facebook document showing Chan held a “follow up” call with Facebook on Oct. 15 to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story. Chan said during his deposition that he had no knowledge of the FBI investigation of the Hunter Biden laptop. However, he told Facebook he was “up to speed” on how the FBI was handling the laptop situation, according to Jordan.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in May and said the FBI authenticated the laptop contents in November 2019 as part of the ongoing DOJ investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes and firearms possession.
The laptop contents have been authenticated by the Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Times, Washington Post and additional news organizations. Hunter Biden is suing multiple individuals for their apparent role in disseminating the contents of the laptop. (RELATED: Comer Unveils Bank Records Showing Joe Biden Received $40,000 Of ‘Laundered’ Chinese Money)
Former Hunter Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski told the FBI in October 2020 that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop reported by the New York Post were real, according to an FBI FD-302 interview summary. Bobulinski also handed over a hard drive containing relevant communications, the FBI document indicates.
The Missouri v. Biden case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court and the lawsuit is influencing how the FBI interacts with social media companies, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified on Oct. 31.
The Supreme Court paused a federal injunction from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals preventing social media platforms from coordinating with the federal government. The Fifth Circuit expanded its injunction in October to include CISA.
The FBI declined to comment.