Hawkeye Reporter

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has released internal FBI emails that indicate the agency suppressed intelligence related to alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 U.S. election. The records, provided by the FBI after whistleblower disclosures, show that an Intelligence Information Report (IIR) from the Albany Field Office was recalled on September 25, 2020. The report contained allegations from a confidential source that the Chinese government was producing fraudulent drivers’ licenses to facilitate mail-in voting for then-candidate Joe Biden.

The FBI’s decision to recall and suppress the IIR prevented further investigation by other field offices or elements of the Intelligence Community. According to released emails, this action was taken because “the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.”

“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,” said Grassley. “One way or the other, intelligence must be fully investigated to determine whether it’s true, or if it’s just smoke and mirrors. Chris Wray’s FBI wasn’t looking out for the American people – it was looking to save its own image. Now’s the time to rebuild the FBI’s trust. Director Patel’s willingness to work with me to establish renewed transparency and accountability is a critical part of that process, and I applaud him for his efforts.”

An analyst from the Albany office expressed concern about using political reasons as justification for withholding intelligence: “Most concerning to me, is stating the reporting would contradict with Director Wray’s testimony. I found this troubling because it implied to me that one of the reasons we aren’t putting this out is for a political reason, which goes directly against our organization’s mission to remain apolitical and simply state what we know. Likewise, at the field operational level, I do not feel it is our job to assess whether or not our intelligence aligns with the Director…. My concern is that I think it gets dangerous if we cite potential political implications as reasons for not putting out our information.”

Officials in Albany described both their process in handling the IIR as standard and their confidential source as credible and confident in their information.

Records show that officials at FBI Headquarters directed Albany staff—including then-Deputy Assistant Director Nikki Floris—to recall the report soon after receiving it. Following this event, headquarters required all raw election-related reporting be coordinated through them.

Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress on September 24, 2020: “I think what I would say is this: We take all election-related threats seriously, whether it is voter fraud, voter suppression, whether it is in person, whether it is by mail. And our role is to investigate the threat actors. Now, we have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it is by mail or otherwise… [B]ut people should make no mistake we are vigilant as to the threat and watching it carefully, because we are in uncharted new territory.” He reiterated under questioning from Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) that no widespread mail-in voter fraud had been observed but affirmed such matters would be investigated seriously.

Despite offers from FITF-China—the division within FBI focused on foreign influence operations—to discuss next steps for reviewing these claims later in October 2020, correspondence confirms there was no aggressive follow-up investigation into these leads.

Grassley commented on recent changes affecting these operations: he called closure of FITF during Trump administration “a positive step” due to concerns about how investigations were managed within that task force.