FBI blocked probe into alleged 2020 election plot by China because it would contradict Director Wrays testimony to Congress, docs show

The FBI blocked an investigation into an alleged Chinese effort to meddle in the 2020 election to help former President Joe Biden because it would have made then-Director Christopher Wray look bad, documents released by the bureau show. The documents, provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) by the FBI and released on Tuesday, detailed the alleged election interference plot, which was obtained by the bureau’s Albany field office in August of 2020 from a credible confidential source and was subsequently “suppressed” by FBI headquarters. The source relayed that the Chinese government had produced “a large amount” of fraudulent US driver’s licenses – using data collected from millions of TikTok accounts – that would allow “tens of thousands of Chinese students and immigrants sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party to vote for US Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, despite not being eligible to vote in the United States.”Information about the alleged plot was circulated in a Sept.25, 2020, FBI Intelligence Information Report (IIR) – one day after Wray testified to Congress that the bureau was unaware of any “coordinated national voter fraud effort” – and recalled minutes after it was issued.“Based on conversations with key individuals involved, it was conveyed that the recall of the IIR was abnormal,” FBI Assistant Director Marshall Yates wrote in a June 27 letter to Grassley.  Yates noted that the IIR was recalled at the direction of FBI headquarters after it prompted “significant attention” within the bureau, and even though it was “coordinated and disseminated in textbook fashion.” The recall was purportedly issued so the Albany field office could “re-interview” the source, but even after the source was “reengaged and provided additional context to support” the existence of an election interference plot, “FBI Headquarters maintained its position not to republish the report,” Yat...