Newly Declassified Documents Spark Allegations FBI Suppressed Ex-U.S. President Biden-Ukraine Intelligence During 2020 Election
Newly Declassified Documents Spark Allegations FBI Suppressed Ex-U.S. President Biden-Ukraine Intelligence During 2020 Election
The documents summarize intelligence reporting and the FBI’s handling of those reports rather than independently verifying the allegations.
Newly declassified intelligence documents labeled “DELTA Project: Round River” have ignited fresh political controversy after U.S. representative for Florida’s 13th congressional district since 2023, Anna Paulina Luna, alleged they show the FBI, under former Director Christopher Wray, downplayed or suppressed intelligence reports concerning the Biden family’s alleged ties to Ukraine by branding them as “Russian disinformation.”
Luna, who shared excerpts of the documents on her X account, claimed the records reveal that the FBI possessed multiple confidential human source (CHS) reports concerning former President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and other Ukraine-related allegations before the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“Newly declassified documents about ‘Operation Round River’ show how FBI Director Wray covered up the Biden family ties to Ukraine and labeled it as ‘Russian disinformation,'” Luna, a member of the Republican Party, wrote.
“According to the new documents, Wray had multiple confidential sources about the Bidens, Burisma and Ukraine but instead of investigating them, he ran damage control to neutralize the story and cover it all up during the 2020 election.”
The authenticity of the pages shown appears consistent with a declassified Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefing marked “DELTA Project – Round River,” although the allegations contained in the underlying confidential source reports are not, by themselves, evidence that the claims were true.
The documents summarize intelligence reporting and the FBI’s handling of those reports rather than independently verifying the allegations.
According to one of the declassified pages, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF-R) allegedly formed an internal analytical effort known as the “Round River” team around December 2019 to examine confidential human source reporting connected to what it described as the “Ukraine Narrative.”
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The document states that the team “operated leading up to and through the 2020 U.S. Presidential election” and had administrative access to intelligence reporting systems.
It further alleges that analysts “added” assessments to confidential human source files indicating that certain reporting was assessed as Russian disinformation and that the task force also provided defensive briefings to congressional offices that received Ukraine-related intelligence.
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Another section of the briefing, however, states that the Round River team “did not corroborate any of the allegations of the ‘Ukraine Narrative,'” indicating investigators said they were unable to independently verify the claims contained in the confidential source reporting.
Several pages summarize information reportedly supplied by confidential human sources over a number of years.
One source, opened in 2012, allegedly reported in December 2015 that a Russian intelligence officer had ties to Burisma executive Mykola Zlochevsky and that Hunter Biden’s relationship with Burisma was intended to provide “cover to the Americans.”
Another confidential source, opened in 2017, reportedly claimed in 2019 that Burisma founder Zlochevsky had been the subject of corruption investigations in Ukraine and that companies linked to Burisma allegedly paid consultants and intermediaries connected to U.S. persons.
The documents present these as intelligence reports from confidential human sources rather than established findings, and portions of the records remain redacted.
Luna argues that instead of pursuing the intelligence, FBI leadership sought to minimize its public impact during the heated 2020 presidential campaign.
Her accusations add to longstanding Republican criticism of the FBI’s handling of Ukraine-related intelligence and the Hunter Biden laptop story during the election cycle.
The released pages, however, do not by themselves conclude that the allegations against the Bidens were true.
Rather, they outline confidential source reporting, describe the FBI’s internal review process, and note that the Round River analytical team ultimately did not corroborate the underlying allegations contained within the so-called “Ukraine Narrative.”
