Why the FBI may have sat on the HB Laptop
by Shipwrecked RedState.com
Don't Draw Too Many Conclusions from the Fact the FBI Described the Laptop as Being Evidence in a 'Money Laundering' Matter
key points–
1- The real clue that the FBI used 272 as a placeholder in this instance is the fact that it was opened as a “D” file — “Unknown SUA” which means “Unknown Specified Unlawful Activity.” That shows the FBI had no information at the time about what underlying criminal activity might be involved.
2- My guess is that when they took the laptop with a grand jury subpoena, the computer shop owner didn’t give them much more information than there were financial documents and/or documents that looked like they involved foreign business activities by Hunter Biden.
3- when a computer is obtained via a grand jury subpoena, that does not give the FBI authority to search the hard drive. To do that the Agent needs to get a search warrant.
4- A federal agent can only seek a search warrant if authorized to do so by a federal prosecutor. The process for getting a search warrant begins with the question “What crime do you think Hunter Biden might have committed?” The second question is going to be “What evidence do you have that he committed that crime?”
5- Having a suspicion based on what the computer shop owner told the agent is not going to be enough when you are talking about a white collar crime
6- It’s called a “private party search” and the FBI can use information learned in that fashion to justify getting a search warrant since the information didn’t come from an FBI search. That information can be used to establish probable cause to search the computer for other evidence.
My take-
Regarding Impeachment, if releasing the actual call transcript was not enough to prevent, the laptop prolly would not be the holy grail regardless of speculation to the contrary.
Basically it could be tied up in investigative speculation and perceived as political, using a current investiagtion and accusations of a crime, yet unproven to clear Potus. At the time Potus etal, had alot of proof of criminality and while the public and Senate was made aware of a small taste, based on the WH Defense team presentations, they were not trying to prove a crime per se, but to justify a mention of looking into things for an accusation of a politically motivated quid pro quo that did not even occur. In other words it was not the time nor place to present the laptop, imho.
So assuming Potus knew of laptop, it is a vital part of the Plan, of which timing is everything. The FBI got a GJ subpoena, but likely no search warrant early on. They lacked the probable cause from outside to prevent a unlawful search defense, but had a legal right to seize it. The FBI may have tried to cover it up for political reasons, but either way the search of the laptop needed a warrant and a proper predicate for probable cause, and the store owners statements would likely not hold up against DS lawfirms defenses.
When the time was right RG released some contents legally, in a way that ensured the public would see what he wanted them to, and also released key evidence required for DNI, DIA, UST to gain a investigative interest which would prevent a FBI coverup. When RG released the data it became open source and would constitute a probable cause search warrant of the entire hard drives.
How to Introduce Evidence Legally.
https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/10/22/dont-draw-too-many-conclusion-from-the-fact-the-fbi-described-the-laptop-as-being-evidence-in-a-money-laundering-matter-n266444