WV SOS Demands Feds Answer For 2020 Election Interference

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, a Republican, is calling on federal agencies to apologize for their role in suppressing information that could have changed the 2020 election outcome. He warned the government might do similar things again.

“I want the federal government — one of these agencies, or all these agencies — to admit that there was a problem, and that would be the first step toward restoring confidence in both our federal government and in our elections,” Warner told The Federalist. “If you don’t acknowledge the problem, then it’s likely to happen again.”

Hiding Hunter’s Laptop

Warner said the FBI, CIA, and the Department of Homeland Security’s CISA program — the federal government’s hub for online censorship — need to acknowledge their role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election. He said if they refuse to answer for this, they will likely take similar actions before November.

The New York Post first reported the contents of President Joe Biden’s son’s laptop in October 2020. Those contents included evidence of foreign business deals involving the president, records of Hunter’s drug use, and explicit sexual material. But the FBI worked to censor the story on Facebook and Twitter as Russian “misinformation,” even though the agency (along with the Department of Justice) later admitted it knew the information was true. As of 2022, 79 percent of Americans thought the story would have changed the outcome of the election. 

Warner said he is concerned the federal government is sowing fear about threats to election officials to distract Americans from its information suppression.

“That’s the real concern, that’s the insidious concern because it’s coming from the inside,” Warner said. “It’s like a magician, waving with one hand getting your attention but doing the dirty work on the other.”

Warner said he expects hostile nations like China, Iran, and Russia to try interfering in elections, but America already has safeguards against foreign influence, so he is more concerned about internal threats.

“We don’t have mechanisms in place to watch out for our own federal government lying to us,” Warner said. “Watch out for anything that the CIA, FBI, CISA, and others say.” 

Peddling ‘Bidenbucks’

Warner said the federal government is also using Biden’s “Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting,” which orders federal agencies to register voters, to tilt the scales for the left.

“They’re trying to get the federal government agencies, all of them, to become voter registration centers and basically get out the vote for Democrats,” Warner said. 

The order and its accompanying get-out-the-vote gambit have garnered the nickname “Bidenbucks” because of the resemblance to the “Zuckbucks” program of 2020, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg funneled $400 million through leftist groups to election offices in mostly Democrat areas, influencing election policy and strategically boosting turnout.

Warner signed a 2022 letter to Biden, along with 14 other secretaries of state, asking him to rescind the order. He also issued a press release on Oct. 9, calling on Congress to investigate federal election interference.

“We shouldn’t have to keep an eye on the very institutions that are supposed to keep us safe,” Warner said in the release. “Americans need to be aware this occurred, and we must take action to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

He wrote Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito on Sept. 26, asking for a congressional inquiry to ensure the federal government does not interfere in the election. Warner said he also wrote CISA Director Jen Easterly and FBI Director Christopher Wray the same week. 

“CISA refuses to address these concerns, further eroding confidence in our elections,” Warner wrote at the time.

Denying Accountability

Despite the federal election interference involved in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story, then-CISA Director Chris Krebs approved a statement calling the 2020 election the “most secure in American history.” 

“They let Chris Krebs say that was the most secure election ever. That’s what the Democrats continually go back to, and say, ‘There was nothing wrong with the 2020 election, it was the most secure ever,’” Warner said. “CISA should come out and say, ‘No, it wasn’t the most secure. We had this lie that was perpetrated on the American people,’ and admit that there was a problem.”

At the time, 51 officials — including former National Intelligence Director James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen, and former CIA official Nick Shapiro — signed a letter to Politico claiming the story was “Russian disinformation.” 

The statement originated with the Biden campaign and helped suppress important information that could have swayed the election. As The Federalist reported, several of these officials recently said they do not regret the letter.

“We’ve never heard from the FBI and the CIA saying, ‘We messed up,’” Warner said. “There were problems with the 2020 election, and we cannot allow it to happen again.”

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.