DOJ, FBI agree: Hunter Biden email stories are not Russian propaganda

The government's top law enforcement agencies agree that explosive stories related to Hunter Biden and a laptop computer hard drive that allegedly belonged to him are not part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

What's the background?

One week ago, controversy exploded after the New York Post published its first story related to that hard drive. The story claimed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden met with a top executive from Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company where Biden's son, Hunter Biden, once worked.

Previously, Joe Biden had stated that he never discussed his son's overseas business dealings.

Immediately, top Democrats and the media began to construct a narrative: The explosive stories are Russian propaganda designed to sink Biden's presidential campaign.

But Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe threw cold water on that theory.

"Let me be clear, the intelligence community doesn't believe that, because there's no intelligence that supports that, and we have shared no intelligence with Chairman [Adam] Schiff or any other member of Congress that Hunter Biden's laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign — it's simply not true," Ratcliffe said Monday, referring to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), head of the House Intelligence committee.

What are the FBI and DOJ saying?

The Department of Justice and FBI reportedly agree with Ratcliffe's assessment.

"FBI & DOJ concur w/ Ratcliffe that Hunter Biden's laptop & the emails in question weren't part of a Russian disinformation campaign," Fox News producer Sean Langille reported Tuesday.

The FBI also reportedly confirmed that it does, indeed, have possession of the laptop computer from where the hard drive originated, as the Post originally reported, according to Langille.

The Washington Examiner separately confirmed Langille's reporting.

Additionally, Langille reported that a federal law enforcement official told Fox News host Martha MacCallum that the emails contained on the hard drive are "authentic," adding that federal law enforcement "may have not been looked at right away when it was received."

"The IC and DOJ are in lock-step on this: there is absolutely zero evidence or intel that the laptop or the information contained therein is a Russian op. Schiff and the former officials making unfounded statements or signing their names to open letters are proving themselves to be the gang who couldn't shoot straight," a senior intelligence official told the Examiner.

Last week, Joe Biden said the stories are part of a "smear campaign."

However, neither the Biden campaign nor Hunter Biden have denied a single material fact from any of the Post's stories or any report related to the hard drive, which suggests, of course, that the stories are true.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has refused to answer additional questions about the hard drive. On Monday, his campaign called a lid until Thursday's debate.