The House Judiciary Committee is sending a subpoena to FBI agent Elvis Chan Friday after the Department of Justice (DOJ) blocked him from testifying in front of the committee about the bureau’s response to the Hunter Biden laptop story, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller.
Chan was expected to testify to the House Judiciary over his involvement with the FBI’s pressure on social media companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop archive and false statements he appeared to make in November 2022 testimony for the ongoing Missouri v. Biden censorship lawsuit.
READ THE LETTER:
He volunteered to interview in front of the committee with his personal counsel, according to the letter. Chan’s interview did not end up taking place because the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought agency counsel to the interview, despite Chan’s decision to be represented by his personal counsel. Witnesses cannot be represented by agency counsel and personal counsel during interviews, per committee rules.
The Daily Mail first reported on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) effort to shut down his testimony by bringing an agency counsel to his interview.
“Today, after an FBI employee traveled across the country to voluntarily participate in a scheduled interview, he was denied the right to have his chosen legal counsel accompany him,” the FBI said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “Upon arrival at the Capitol, Committee staff directed agency counsel to leave the premises, and the interview was unable to proceed.”
Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, shared internal Facebook documents in August showing that Chan lied during his previous testimony about his meetings with tech companies regarding the Hunter Biden laptop.
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
“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,” Jordan tweeted.
Elvis Chan was the conduit between the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and social media platforms ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to internal documents known as the “Twitter files” and the House Judiciary Committee.
Chan and FITF Section Chief Laura Dehmlow met with Facebook on Oct. 14, 2020, when the Hunter Biden laptop story broke in the New York Post, she testified in July. The FBI told Facebook “no comment” on whether the laptop was real, despite their knowledge that the laptop archive was real. Hunter Biden’s laptop contents have been verified by the Daily Caller News Foundation, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media outlets.
By refusing to appear voluntarily, the Committee had no choice but to use compulsory process.
Pursuant to a subpoena, Agent Chan must now appear for a deposition on Thursday, September 21, 2023. pic.twitter.com/T2zlAHSaJi
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) September 15, 2023
Chan testified in the Missouri v. Biden case that he did not have any other meetings with tech companies and he did not know about communications between FBI agents and Facebook. However, Jordan found that Chan had a “follow up” call with Facebook the following day.
Chan is required by the subpoena to appear for a deposition Sept. 21, 2023, according to the House Judiciary Committee. His interview is part of an ongoing investigation into the executive branch’s work with social media platforms to censor speech.
This is a developing story and it will be updated.