“Unofficial” FBI Group Swept Up Journalists, Politicians As Russian Disinfo “Conduits” For Probing Biden-Ukraine Dealings

An FBI analytical group that reviewed confidential-source reporting about Biden family corruption in Ukraine was “unofficially formed” inside the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force in late 2019 and did not corroborate the allegations it was assigned to assess before labeling the reporting as Russian disinformation, according to newly declassified records.

The records [Direct download link] provide a more detailed picture of an effort known as Round River, a component of a broader intelligence project called DELTA, that operated in the run-up to and through the 2020 presidential election.

An Office of the Director of National Intelligence slide deck says analysts with the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force-Russia, or FITF-R, came together around December 2019 and used internal systems to gather “any/all derogatory information” previously reported by confidential human sources concerning “Joseph Biden corruption and other Ukraine related-topics.”

The deck refers to that body of reporting as the “Ukraine Narrative,” including information concerning Burisma Holdings, Hunter Biden, Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky and allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. The analysts’ purpose, according to the document, was to “red flag” the reporting as Russian disinformation.

But the same document states: “The Round River team did not corroborate any of the allegations of the ‘Ukraine Narrative.’”

The analysts were given “administrative accesses to all reporting” and drafted intelligence products that were later placed in confidential-source files to indicate that the reporting had been deemed Russian disinformation, the deck says.

The group “operated leading up to and through the 2020 US Presidential election.”

The records add important context to earlier reporting that senior Republican and conservative figures were identified as Russian-disinformation “conduits” in connection with Round River.

A separate FBI spreadsheet shows that the terminology was broader – and in some cases more tentative – than a designation of someone as a Russian agent or knowing participant in a foreign influence effort. It records people and organizations considered for warnings that they could be caught up in a foreign influence operation, along with the FBI’s position on providing such a briefing.

Among those listed as conduits are former Attorney General William Barr, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Rudolph Giuliani, Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. Jim Jordan and former Rep. Devin Nunes.

The document also identifies several prominent names not highlighted in initial coverage: Richard Donoghue, Pete Sessions and Mick Mulvaney.

Donoghue was serving at the highest levels of the Justice Department during the period covered by the operation. Mulvaney was White House chief of staff when the group formed, and Sessions, a former congressman at the time, returned to the House in 2021. Giuliani and Sessions are among the entries marked “FBI Equities,” indicating the bureau objected or had an investigative interest bearing on a proposed briefing. Most of the other conduit entries are marked “No Objection.”

The spreadsheet does not show that all of those nominated were actually warned – and in fact, Joe Biden is the only entry expressly marked “Briefed.” 

Funny how that worked!