As RedState reported, the “Twitter Files” part seven has dropped, and it provides damning details of coordination between the FBI and Twitter in regard to the Hunter Biden laptop story.

The full thread is a must-read to understand how deep the rot went, but the key points surround what the FBI knew about the laptop vs. what it told social media companies prior to the 2020 election. It is now clear that the rush to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation was a planned operation, pushed by the highest levels of federal law enforcement.

23. On August 11, 2020, the FBI's Chan shares information with Twitter's Roth relating to the Russian hacking organization, APT28, through the FBI's secure, one-way communications channel, Teleporter. pic.twitter.com/HHLpCqcOoy

— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 19, 2022

The attempt to manipulate social media companies into believing the Hunter Biden laptop story was a “hack and dump” operation by the Russians was extensive. In the summer prior to the 2020 election, members of the FBI were already planting that idea. They were even giving out high-level security clearances in order to make social media executives believe they were getting rock-solid intelligence.

But the intelligence wasn’t rock-solid. In fact, it was based on absolutely nothing. Worse, it was put out there with the FBI knowing full well that it was false. They had been in possession of the Hunter Biden laptop (more specifically, the hard drive) for a year prior to the 2020 presidential election. Yet, the FBI put into motion an elaborate plan to discredit any stories surrounding it as disinformation.

The question is why, and the answer is obvious: To influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

There is no other explanation that even begins to pass muster. The FBI knowingly lied to social media companies about the provenance of the files from Hunter Biden’s laptop, sometimes directly and other times with a wink and a nod. That the FBI was even involved in this, to begin with, is a scandal given the knowledge it had. The moment that the bureau received the hard drive, it should have backed away completely because further involvement was essentially an in-kind contribution to Joe Biden.

Ignorance and overzealousness do not provide any excuses in this situation. The FBI knew what it was doing. For that, Christopher Wray has a lot of explaining to do. He has previously brushed off questions citing ongoing investigations. He can’t be allowed to do that any longer, and if he tries to, he should be impeached by the new GOP House, a move that would force him to testify without the protections of “protocol.” This is a watershed moment for the Republican Party. Far too many of its members, especially in the US Senate, continue to support Wray despite the scandalous nature of his tenure.

As to Wray’s original appointment, I’ll say this. There are essentially no clean hands on that front. Ultimately, the buck stops with Donald Trump as he was president, but pretty much every other member of the GOP, including Ron DeSantis, praised Wray as a man of integrity that would steward the FBI back to credibility. That hasn’t happened. That no one really saw it coming, including the right-wing commentariat, is a failure, and it’s one everyone has to own.

Was Wray always this corrupt? Or was he molded by the position of power he was handed during the Trump era? I don’t know, but I know that we are well past the point of blaming underlings for these misdeeds. Wray has had ample time to get the FBI in order, and it’s clear he’s part of the problem.