A group of Republican members of the House of Representatives wrote FBI Director Christopher A. Wray with questions Thursday about the recently uncovered laptop purportedly owned by Hunter Biden.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona led 18 fellow Republicans in seeking answers regarding the FBI’s knowledge of the laptop supposedly belonging to the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden.
Co-signers of the letter, including several frequently vocal defenders of President Trump, speculate the laptop may contain evidence that could have helped lawyers fighting against the president’s impeachment.
“If the FBI was, in fact, in possession of this evidence and failed to alert the White House to its existence that would have given even more weight to the President’s legal defense, this was a gross error in judgement [sic] and a severe violation of trust,” the lawmakers wrote.
The New York Post reported this week that it acquired a copy of data stored on a laptop supposedly belonging to the younger Biden that was abandoned at a computer repair shop in Delaware in 2019.
In addition to the laptop data, the New York Post reported that it also obtained a federal subpoena that shows the computer and hard drive were seized by the FBI last December.
The House of Representatives impeached Mr. Trump days later on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from him asking the Ukrainian president to investigate the Bidens.
Republicans say in the letter that a large portion of the president’s defense during the impeachment proceedings involved claims about the younger Biden supposedly peddling his father’s influence.
The letter asks Mr. Wray to answer if the FBI was ever in possession of the laptop or hard drive and if federal investigators took any steps to authenticate the data supposedly uncovered from it.
Republicans also asked Mr. Wray in the letter whether the FBI ever briefed anybody at the Department of Justice or the White House since December and why it was obtained by the New York Post before the public.
“The FBI is in receipt of the letter and we decline to comment further, in keeping with our standard practice of not confirming or denying an investigation,” the FBI told The Washington Times.
Republicans who joined Mr. Biggs in requesting answers from Mr. Wray include Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Ted Yoho of Florida, Andy Harris of Maryland and Louie Gohmert of Texas, among others.
The New York Post reported it received the data from Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney and the former mayor of New York City.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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