Judge Rules FBI Agent Who Conspired With Meta (FaceBook) to Bury Hunter Biden Story Can Be Deposed in Lawsuit

Weird how Christopher Wray is completely disinterested in this.

A federal judge on Monday ruled in favor of deposing an FBI agent accused of "colluding" with social media companies to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Judge Terry A. Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana ruled that FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Elvis Chan must be deposed under oath for his alleged involvement in coordinating with Meta to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story prior to the 2020 election.

"Chan had authority over cybersecurity issues for the FBI in the San Francisco, California region which includes the headquarters of major social-media platforms and played a critical role for the FBI in coordinating with social-media platforms related to censorship," Doughty wrote in his Monday court order. "Even if Chan played no role in the Hunter Biden laptop communication issue, he may have knowledge of who did, and his deposition is nonetheless warranted."

The decision relates to a lawsuit filed in May against the Biden administration. In that suit, Republican Attorneys General Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana accused top-ranking government officials of working with the giant social media companies Meta, Twitter and YouTube "under the guise of combating misinformation" in order to achieve greater censorship.

On Oct. 10, the AGs identified Chan and 46 defendants in the suit. Chan was cited for his alleged "critical role" in "coordinating with social-media platforms relating to censorship and suppression of speech on their platforms."

The court on Oct. 21 authorized Chan's deposition, but Chan's attorneys filed a motion to reconsider that ruling, which was denied on Monday.

Chan argued through his lawyer that Meta claimed that he was not the agent who colluded with them.

But note that no one is here under oath saying that -- his lawyer is citing a claim made by Meta, not made under oath. (And a disputed claim to boot.)

The judge pointed out, correctly, that if he wasn't the agent who told Meta to bury the Hunter Biden laptop story, he can just say that under oath and have a very quick and easy deposition.

But of course he can't say that under oath, which is why he's attempting to avoid the deposition entirely.

posted by Ace at 01:04 PM

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