The House Judiciary Committee on Friday subpoenaed an FBI agent with knowledge of the agency's cooperation with Big Tech to suppress a story on Hunter Biden's laptop, following an attempt by the Department of Justice to block his testimony.
Elvis Chan, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco field office, was scheduled to testify in a transcribed interview Friday morning. The Daily Mail reported Friday that Chan brought personal counsel with him, but the DOJ showed up with an agency attorney. House rules only allow a witness in a transcribed interview to have either a personal or agency attorney, but not both, so the testimony was canceled.
But the subpoena prevents an agency's counsel from being present, according to House rules, a source familiar with the matter told Newsmax.
The FBI disputes the claim the DOJ maneuvered to prevent Chan from testifying, according to the Daily Mail, calling it a "significant departure" from normal procedures.
"After an FBI employee traveled across the country to voluntarily participate in a scheduled interview, he was denied the right to have his chosen legal counsel accompany him," an FBI spokesperson told the Daily Mail. "Upon arrival at the Capitol, committee staff directed agency counsel to leave the premises, and the interview was unable to proceed.
"This is a significant departure from normal procedures and an unnecessary escalation of this committee's treatment of FBI officials.
"The FBI employee remains willing to take part in a voluntary interview with appropriate legal representation."
In November, Chan was deposed in Missouri v. Biden — a landmark case in which a Louisiana judge's ruling in July prohibited the Biden administration from contacting social media companies to restrict material it deemed misinformation.
Chan testified he had only one meeting with Facebook about the laptop, when evidence uncovered by Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, shows he had two.
The subpoena, a copy of which Newsmax obtained, requests Chan appear before the committee at 10 a.m.on Thursday of next week.
"As the primary liaison between the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Foreign Influence Task Force and social media companies, you are uniquely positioned to aid the Committee's oversight," Jordan wrote in a letter to Chan accompanying the subpoena.