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Donald Trump raged about Hunter Biden's laptop less than 24 hours after the Congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot issued criminal referrals against the former president.
The select congressional committee, which has sought to prove Trump incited the violent riot in which a mob of his supporters attempted to violently force Congress to block President Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory, announced the criminal referrals during their final meeting on Monday.
The panel referred Trump on charges including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to make a false statement, and conspiracy to "incite," "assist," or "aid or comfort" an insurrection.
Trump, facing growing legal pressure from the criminal referrals, posted a Truth Social message on Tuesday targeting Hunter Biden's laptop.
His post referred to the Twitter files, a series of reporting seeking to prove the social media giant suppressed a New York Post story about the laptop.
The latest report, posted to Twitter by Michael Shellenberger on Monday, alleged that the FBI "discredited factual information about Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings" before and after the Post story.
"Files CONCLUSIVELY reveal that the FBI totally discredited damming factual information from Hunter Biden's Laptop From Hell to top Twitter executives prior to the 2020 Presidential Election. 'Do not use this,' they said, 'it is Russian Disinformation,'" Trump wrote.
He added: "Also spread the word to other Big Tech & Media Companies. It was not a request, but a demand. Whether they believed it or not, they had an excuse not to use it against Biden."
The Twitter files report alleged that FBI agents wrote in a letter to the former head of trust and safety for Twitter that the reports about his laptop were a "hack and leak operations by state actors," urging Twitter to dismiss them.
Trump, who has long been critical of the 2020 presidential election, added that Biden would have lost "millions of votes" over his son's laptop. Trump is currently seeking a rematch against Biden and announced his 2024 presidential bid in November.
He continued to post about the "Deep State" and the "Unselect Committee," which he wrote is "trying to make the case that I didn't really believe I won the Election." He claimed the Twitter files proved his unfounded election fraud claims as "100% RIGHT!"
"I never thought, for even a moment, that the Presidential Election of 2020 was not Rigged & Stolen, and my conviction became even stronger as time went by. Now, with all of the massive evidence that has come to light, including recently with the FBI suppression of Election changing information, I was 100% RIGHT!" he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office and the FBI for comment.
About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more