Newsmax host Sean Spicer, who served as former President Donald Trump’s first White House press secretary, urged Barr on Thursday about whether there will be any “legal consequences” for suppressing the story and for those who disregarded Russian disinformation.
“Not that I can think of,” Barr said after noting that politicians and the media tend to tell lies.
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Details about Biden’s business dealings and personal life have appeared in the media thanks to copies of a laptop and hard drive. Still, early on, in October 2020, major media outlets sought to cast doubt on its authenticity, and Big Tech companies even took steps to suppress its spread in the final weeks of the election. A group of 51 former intelligence officials signed a letter suggesting Russia was involved, which led then-candidate Joe Biden and others to ignore the laptop as being part of a Russian operation despite a lack of evidence.
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Barr spoke to the ramifications of the letter during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last month.
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“The intelligence officials suggesting that it was Russian disinformation in order to essentially keep a cork in it until after the election,” Barr said, “I do think that ... given how close the election was ... that probably affected the outcome, or, at least, there is a very distinct probability of that.”
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The FBI seized the actual hardware after the owner, believed to be Hunter Biden, left it for repairs at a shop in Delaware in April 2019 and never returned. Copies were made and spread across the media landscape, and the New York Post led the charge in reporting on the contents of the laptop.
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When the New York Post attempted to post the articles on its Twitter account, the social media company claimed it violated its rule against sharing “hacked” materials. Both Twitter and Facebook limited users from sharing it for a time. Twitter locked the New York Post out of its account on October 14, 2020, in a standoff that lasted roughly two weeks.
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In recent months, the New York Times, Politico, and The Washington Post have come forth with reports saying at least some of the contents on the laptop have been verified. Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey have called the New York Post lockout a “mistake,” and Elon Musk, who is on the verge of taking over Twitter in a $44 billion deal, called the censorship “incredibly inappropriate.”
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