WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • White House memos show the FBI and State Department moved to prevent Andrii Telizhenko from meeting Senate investigators examining Biden family business.
  • The FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force sought to revoke Telizhenko’s visa after the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv had already done so.
  • IRS investigators claimed prosecutors restricted questions about Joe Biden and interfered with warrants, interviews, and access to Hunter Biden’s laptop.
  • Declassified records showed the Foreign Influence Task Force launched “Round River” to flag evidence against the Bidens as Russian disinformation.

Newly released memos add another chapter to the long trail of evidence showing federal officials and their partners working to shield the Biden family from scrutiny over foreign business dealings and Hunter Biden’s unlawful actions, as reported by Just The News.

The White House Government Transparency Task Force released memos Thursday showing that the FBI and State Department moved in September 2020 to prevent Ukrainian witness Andrii Telizhenko from meeting with Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The senators were investigating Biden family business activities in Ukraine and China.

On Sept. 8, 2020, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force began preparing a request to revoke Telizhenko’s visa. Officials then discovered that the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv had already revoked it.

The Department of the Treasury later sanctioned Telizhenko for election interference. That action came despite a CIA assessment that he was, at most, possibly an “unwitting” participant.

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An August 2020 FBI memo also showed that Russia had banned Telizhenko, identified him as a spy, and that he had rejected approaches from Russian recruiters. Those details hardly fit neatly with the treatment he received from American officials.

According to the memos, the government accused Telizhenko of spreading “false claims” about Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. Those claims concerned whether Hunter Biden’s role influenced American policy aimed at fighting corruption in Ukraine.

Telizhenko also repeated allegations that Joe Biden changed American policy when he withheld $1 billion to force the firing of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, who was investigating Burisma. The actions against Telizhenko prevented him from meeting directly with the Senate investigators examining those matters.

The episode appears to fit a wider pattern surrounding investigations into Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. Current and former government officials repeatedly appeared to shield the family from scrutiny or redirect inquiries into its activities.

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In October 2020, 51 former intelligence officials signed a letter suggesting that Hunter Biden’s laptop bore the hallmarks of a Russian information operation. Michael Morell, a former acting CIA director who organized the letter, later admitted that its purpose was to provide the Biden campaign with a debate “talking point.”

The assessment gave then-candidate Joe Biden a way to deflect criticism of his son’s business dealings while campaigning for president. The House Judiciary Committee said in 2023 that Morell drafted the letter after outreach from Antony Blinken, then a senior advisor to Biden’s campaign and later secretary of state.

The FBI had already obtained and verified the laptop in December 2019, according to IRS investigators. The device contained significant evidence concerning Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China and became evidence in the federal tax investigation of the younger Biden.

IRS investigators Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler later went to Congress after claiming they faced resistance and interference from supervising prosecutors over certain investigative paths. Shapley said prosecutors prohibited questions about Joe Biden, telling Congress, “We weren't allowed to ask about 'Big Guy.'”

One of Hunter Biden’s former business partners said “Big Guy” referred to Joe Biden. The investigators also said the Justice Department repeatedly interfered with search warrants and interviews involving important witnesses or targets, including Hunter Biden himself.

Investigators initially were denied access to Hunter Biden’s laptop, which they believed contained important evidence. They also believed sufficient evidence existed to charge Hunter Biden over unpaid taxes on Burisma income from 2014 and 2015, but the statute of limitations expired after prosecutors declined to file charges.

A 2023 plea agreement collapsed amid the whistleblowers’ disclosures. Hunter Biden was later convicted on gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax charges in 2024 before his father pardoned him, despite repeatedly telling the country he would not issue such a pardon.

Shapley and Ziegler also claimed they suffered retaliation for making protected disclosures to Congress. After Shapley raised his concerns with lawmakers, his investigative team was removed from the case.

Shapley told Just the News that Hunter Biden received more favorable treatment than other subjects he investigated during his 13-year career.

“I believe in what we're doing, when we're treating people fairly. And, you know, it just didn't happen in this particular case."

The Foreign Influence Task Force also operated a broader effort during that period. Declassified records released by the White House in August showed that the task force’s Russia unit launched an operation called “Round River” in December 2019 to flag evidence against the Bidens as Russian disinformation.

According to a 2025 summary by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the team gathered “any/all derogatory information previously reported by confidential human sources (CHSs) on Joseph Biden corruption” and other Ukraine topics “to red flag the reporting as Russian disinformation.”

The summary said “the Round River team did not corroborate any of the allegations of the 'Ukraine narrative.'” Yet a Reuters / Ipsos poll found almost half of Americans believed Trump colluded with Russia, while a 2019 YouGov poll found at least 48% of voters disagreed with Trump’s denial of Russian collusion.

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