FBI’s Counterintelligence Project Tagged Biden Ukraine Claims as Russian Disinformation

According to files unveiled by the White House Transparency Task Force, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force - Russia assembled a covert analyst unit named “Round River” beginning in December 2019, continuing through the 2020 presidential campaign and perhaps into the following year. The unit harvested all derogatory intelligence from confidential human sources concerning the “Ukraine Narrative,” which encompassed claims about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Burisma and related figures.

In its internal labeling, the FBI marked Democratic figures—including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, George Soros, John Kerry and Paul Pelosi—as “targets,” while designating a roster of Republicans such as Bill Barr, Mike Pompeco, Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson, Chuck Grassley, Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, Pete Sessions and Mick Mulvaney as “conduits” of Russian disinformation. An Office of the Director of National Intelligence review found the team did not corroborate any of the allegations, and it appeared more focused on suppressing the narrative than assessing its truth.

FBI Director Kash Patel wrote to the Transparency Task Force, indicating an investigation into whether the operation used its findings to influence ongoing probes and pledged to provide the source material from 53 confidential informants. The disclosed list also includes media outlets like One America News Network, one outlet and Herring Networks as conduits.