International
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Must Resign. Now

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US House COVID committee determined that the WHO acted on behalf of the Chinese CCP during the COVID crisis
On December 02, 2024, The US House of Representatives “Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic” released a 500+ page report covering their findings from two years of investigations, which will be read into the congressional record 04 Dec 2024. Malone.News has previously covered and published the corresponding press release.
With this essay, we now turn to an underreported aspect of this report; collusion between the World Health Organization (under the direction of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus) and the Central Communist Party of China (CCP) to advance the interests of the Chinese CCP at the expense of other WHO member states and global health. Based on these official US Congressional Select Committee findings, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus must now resign as he has failed to fulfill and comply with both the scope and intent of the UN/WHO charter and also failed to comply with the version of the International Health Regulations guiding the activities of himself and the WHO in the context of the greatest infectious disease public health crisis ever encountered since the formation of the WHO. As the committee clearly documents, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ and WHO’s corrupt and biased malfeasance and mismanagement directly contributed to exacerbating the severity of the initial phase of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
On the basis of this report, Malone.News calls upon President Elect of the United States Donald Trump to condemn the WHO and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for their corrupt and biased pro-CCP actions during the Coronavirus Pandemic. We specifically recommend:
- the immediate resignation of WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
- to prioritize initiating the process of defunding and terminating US relations with the World Health Organization as soon as possible after assuming the office of POTUS,
- to withdraw from negotiations relating to the WHO “Pandemic Treaty,” and to
- to clearly and unambiguously indicate that the amendments to the International Health Regulations recently illegally approved under direction of WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus be declared non-binding, null and void due to a failure of Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to comply with WHO/UN policies and procedures for amending the International Health Regulations.
On 23 May 2017, The World Health Assembly elected Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia as the new Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), during the Assembly’s 70th session. He began a five-year term on 1 July 2017 and succeed Margaret Chan in the role. The WHO has a long, rich, and well-known history of corruption.
Dr. Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun is a Chinese-Canadian physician, who served as the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2006 to 2017. Chan previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government (1994–2003) and representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases (2003–2006). In 2014, Forbes ranked her as the 30th most powerful woman in the world. In early 2018 she joined the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). She was widely criticized for her handling of the 1997 H5N1 avian influenza outbreak and the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong, and the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak.
I (Robert Malone) have had direct personal experience with Dr. Chan during the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, and witnessed her attempts to shake down my small biotech client at the time (New Link Genetics) for financial contributions to the WHO in exchange for supporting the advancement of the Ebola vaccine candidate then owned by New Link (purchased from Public Health Canada for slightly more than 100,000 USD), and which was later licensed to Merck Vaccines (with my assistance). This type of activity is considered standard WHO practice and accounts for at least some of the substantial dark funding that the WHO receives from the pharmaceutical industry and other special interests. Merck subsequently obtained FDA market authorization for the PHAC/New Link Ebola vaccine product after considerable developmental support was provided by US DoD/DTRA and HHS/BARDA. I personally lead the development of and served as primary author of the awarded USG contract bids that capitalized much of this Ebola vaccine support, and also served as initial capture and project manager. A US Army officer and leader of the DoD Ebola vaccine team (not myself) was subsequently appointed project manager for the USG Warp Speed Moderna “vaccine” project.
In contrast, the Ebola vaccine candidates supported and promoted by NIH/NIAID were unsuccessful. US DoD/DTRA was explicitly required by the Obama White House to allow HHS to take credit for that success due to political considerations relating to the involvement of DoD in exploiting vaccine surveillance activities to locate and then assassinate Osama Bin Ladin.
Dr. Tedros’ selection process began before September 2016, and the Assembly considered three nominees: Dr. Tedros, as he is known; David Nabarro (UK); and Sania Nishtar (Pakistan). The 70th WHA convened from 22-31 May 2017, in Geneva, Switzerland, and selected Dr. Tedros as Director-General WHO with the strong support of Mr. Bill Gates.
Previously, Tedros served as Chair of the Global Fund and of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board (RBM) and created the Global Malaria Action Plan, which expanded the RBM’s work beyond Africa to Asia and Latin America. He also served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Health (2012-2016 ). Tedros has links to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (“TPLF”), a group designated as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government. Tedros was a senior capo for TPLF, a gangster mafia that ruled Ethiopia from 1991-2018. During that time, he served as Health Minister and Foreign Minister, cementing his credentials as a member of the inner circle of what was one of if not the most corrupt, brutal and genocidal regimes to set foot on this planet in the past 30 years. Tedros’ political career began by aligning with TPLF, a hard-left organization. He served as Ethiopia’s health minister and foreign minister under the TPLF-dominated ruling coalition. The Ethiopian government has turned against Tedros, accusing him of supporting TPLF and failing to show integrity and professionalism. In 2020, Ethiopia’s military accused Tedros Adhanom of supporting and trying to procure arms and diplomatic support for TPLF, which is fighting federal troops. The Ethiopian government has called on WHO to investigate Tedros’ actions and declined to back his re-election as WHO’s Director-General in May 2022.
The 75th meeting of the World Health Assembly reelected Dr. Tedros as WHO head (unopposed) by unanimous acclimation for a second term beginning 16 August 2022. No nation put up a candidate against him despite his controversial handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and close relationship to China (CCP).
When the Biden administration rejoined the WHO in January after President Trump had elected to withdraw from the WHO, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that Tedros was his “dear friend.” Tedros reportedly referred to Fauci as “my brother Tony.”
As reported at the time by Fox News
Craig Singleton, adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told Fox News, “The WHO Director General election stood as one of the first multilateral tests for the Biden administration, which has prioritized multilateralism and the United Nations in particular as a vehicle to promote U.S. interests on the world stage. The administration has put forward candidates for other international organization elections, such as the International Telecommunications Union, but has yet to provide an explanation for its decision to not challenge Tedros.”
Singleton continued, “This misstep raises serious questions about Washington’s efforts to push back against China’s growing U.N. activism, which includes Beijing’s efforts to promote leadership candidates throughout the UN system which are deferential to China’s interests.”
Observers say the U.S. lack of activism in the election process means it lost a major opportunity to wield influence over the future of the organization. The nomination deadline ended at the end of September.
This unfortunate history provides yet another example of the Biden/Harris administration’s actions that functionally supported Chinese CCP activities and agendas.
Dr. Tedros recently jammed through modifications of the International Health Regulations during the 77th meeting of the World Health Assembly without official US governmental objections while blatantly disregarding established protocol and process for legal amendment approvals, which Malone.News previously covered here.
The 78th meeting of the World Health Assembly is scheduled to convene in Geneva from Monday, May 19, 2025 to Tuesday, May 27, 2025, and approval of the proposed WHO/International “Pandemic Treaty” is anticipated during that meeting.
The following is a summary of the findings of the US House COVID committee findings regarding Tedros, WHO, and the proposed Pandemic Treaty. For detailed supporting text, please see the report section titled “The Implementation or Effectiveness of Any Federal Law or Regulation Applied, Enacted, or Under Consideration to Address the Coronavirus Pandemic and Prepare for Future Pandemics”, subsection “I. Overreliance on the World Health Organization,” pages 171 to 188.
Key findings from this section of the report include:
- The World Health Organization Failed to Uphold Its Mission and Caved to Chinese Communist Party Pressure.
- The WHO Ignored Taiwan Despite It Warning of COVID-19 in December 2019
- The WHO Denied Human-to-Human Spread of COVID-19 Based Solely on CCP Propaganda
- The WHO Prolonged Naming COVID-19 a PHEIC and Pandemic Because the CCP Insisted the Spread was Under Control
- The WHO Delayed and Denigrated Serious Countermeasures, Like Travel Restrictions, Because of CCP Pressure
- The WHO Continued to Praise CCP Failed Efforts to Combat the Pandemic, Despite a Globally Recognized the Cover-Up
- The WHO Failed to Condemn the CCP’s Aggressive Tactics Against Whistleblowers, Journalists, and Americans
- The WHO Posted False Information Regarding the Origins and Notification of COVID- 19’s Emergence
- The Chinese Communist Party Violated Articles Six and Seven of the International Health Regulations with No Repercussions.
- The CCP violated IHR Articles Six and Seven and needs to be held accountable.
- Article 6 of the IHR says that “[e]ach State Party shall notify WHO…within 24 hours…of all events which may constitute a public health emergency of international concern.”666 In order for an outbreak to require notification it must: (1) have serious public health consequences, (2) be unusual or unexpected, (3) have risk of international spread, and (4) pose significant risk to international trade.667 COVID-19 met all these criteria well before the WHO was formally notified of the outbreak by China. Further, Article 7 of the IHR states that if a “State Party has evidence of an unexpected or unusual public health event…it shall provide to WHO all relevant public health information.”668 The CCP failed to notify the WHO in a timely manner and subsequently concealed valuable information—harming the global response and leading to unnecessary illness and death.
- The World Health Organization’s Report Regarding the Origins of COVID-19 Was Incomplete, Misleading, and Parroted Chinese Communist Party Propaganda.
- Apart from the initial mismanagement of the virus, the WHO produced a report on the origins of COVID-19 that did nothing but continue the CCP’s propaganda.675 The WHO attempted to organize an investigation into the origins of the virus, yet from the very beginning it was evident the CCP was completely in control.
- The “Terms of Reference for the China Part” [hereinafter “Terms of Reference”] was a document that laid the ground rules for the WHO’s investigation. These terms were inherently flawed, provided significant discretion to the CCP, and continued to parrot CCP propaganda.676 Some examples included:
- Supporting CCP propaganda by stating the investigation would also evaluate the “possibility the virus may have silently” started outside of Wuhan.
- Dodging responsibility by “build[ing] on existing information and augment, rather than duplicate, ongoing [CCP]…efforts.”
- Phony scientific independence by giving the CCP final right of refusal on the “composition of the international team.”
- In January 2021, an international team traveled to Wuhan, China to review evidence of when and how the virus might have emerged.678 In March 2021, the WHO team released a report, entitled “WHO-Convened Global Study of Origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part,” [hereinafter “WHO Report”] outlining four possible origin scenarios:
- direct zoonotic spillover is considered to be a possible-to-likely pathway;
- introduction through an intermediate host is considered to be a likely to very likely pathway;
- introduction through cold/food chain products is considered a possible pathway; [and]
- introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway.
- A significant restriction, was the CCP’s complete control over every single aspect of the investigation team’s itinerary and access to information. Upon arriving in Wuhan, the WHO team quarantined for two weeks in hotel rooms and were further restricted to certain areas of the hotel after quarantining.
- The investigators were restricted from dining with their Chinese counterparts, a seemingly insignificant detail, yet denied the WHO team the opportunity to engage in informal, human-to-human, conversation that can provide invaluable information.
- In Wuhan, Chinese scientists stated they had reviewed the medical records of approximately 76,000 patients from more than 200 medical institutions.692 When the WHO team requested raw numbers and data, Chinese scientists only presented analysis.
- Of the 76,000 medical records examined, 92 patients from October, November, and early December 2019 curiously showed symptoms suggesting COVID-19, yet none tested positive for antibodies according to medical records.
- The WHO Report’s conclusion included four hypotheses: that the virus jumped directly from animal to human; it spread via some (one not identified) intermediate animal; it was transmitted via the food chain, especially frozen products; or it came from a laboratory. These were concluded via a show of hands, in a room with Chinese counterparts—many of whom report directly to the CCP—that had already ruled out a lab accident and suggested the pandemic started somewhere outside of China. The theory that the virus came from a lab was voted as “extremely unlikely” and wasn’t recommended for further research.
- This was very clearly not a thorough, complete, or impartial investigation. The CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs even admitted, “China firmly opposes certain countries’ attempts to…hold China accountable.” Yet, even though the rest of the world understands this report is a sham, the CCP presents it as the definitive assessment concerning the origins of COVID-19. So much so, the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. sent the Select Subcommittee a letter attempting to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19, citing to the WHO origins report.
- The WHO team was not allowed to review any raw data or conduct their own analysis.
Malone News previously covered the original WHO COVID investigation findings here.
The original WHO report key findings included the following, which are contradicted by the House Select subcommittee’s findings. This quote clearly demonstrates that the WHO was compromised by placing the interests of the Chinese CCP above those of other member states and global health.
“For each of these possible pathways of emergence, the joint team conducted a qualitative risk assessment, considering the available scientific evidence and findings. It also stated the arguments against each possibility. The team assessed the relative likelihood of these pathways and prioritized further studies that would potentially increase knowledge and understanding globally. The joint team’s assessment of likelihood of each possible pathway was as follows:
• direct zoonotic spillover is considered to be a possible-to-likely pathway;
• introduction through an intermediate host is considered to be a likely to very likely pathway;
• introduction through cold/ food chain products is considered a possible pathway;
• introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway.”
The full 2021 WHO report can be downloaded from this link.
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International
Taiwan Criticizes CBC Correction on United Front Buddhist Land Story, Citing PRC Political Pressure

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry warns that CBC’s editorial change “undermines the essence of press freedom” and reflects growing Chinese pressure on international media.
Canada’s state broadcaster, CBC, is facing diplomatic criticism from Taiwan after issuing a controversial correction to an explosive story regarding Chinese influence via foreign investment in Prince Edward Island—raising new questions about whether Chinese government pressure is compromising Canadian press freedom and influencing media coverage of foreign interference.
On June 14, CBC/Radio-Canada published a report on alleged ties between Bliss and Wisdom, a Buddhist group with growing land holdings on Prince Edward Island, and the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. The report—based in part on findings from The Bureau’s contributor Garry Clement—noted deep concerns from PEI residents about the group’s agricultural land acquisitions and its alleged links to Beijing, including its reported advocacy for China’s annexation of Taiwan.
It highlighted a high-ranking monk from Taiwan who traveled “between his home country, Prince Edward Island, and China” in 2023 for ideological outreach, at the invitation of a Buddhist organization affiliated with the United Front Work Department—the Chinese Communist Party’s covert foreign interference arm.
But on June 17, CBC issued a correction: “In that story, the reporter said Taiwan is a country that China is threatening to invade. In fact, Taiwan is a self-governing island, and there is dispute around who controls it.” No explanation was provided for the change.
That revision quickly sparked backlash in Taipei. In a statement to Taiwan News, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said it was “regretful and disappointed” to see international media “engage in self-censorship or deliberately avoid using the term ‘country’ to refer to Taiwan due to political pressure from China or concerns about Beijing’s stance.” MOFA reportedly reiterated that Taiwan “is a sovereign and independent country, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China,” and urged foreign media to uphold “objectivity and fairness,” warning that compromise on coverage “undermines the essence of press freedom” and distorts Taiwan’s international status.
CBC did not respond to a request for comment from Taiwan News.
CBC is funded by the federal government and mandated by the Broadcasting Act to serve the public interest with independence, journalistic integrity, and balanced coverage. Taiwan’s concerns, delivered through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, suggest a de facto state-to-state issue.
The CBC correction was also flagged Thursday by Canadian diaspora advocacy group Friends of Hong Kong, which has documented suspected United Front influence in Canada, including media pressure campaigns. “So disappointing for Canadian media: this is a politically-charged correction, due to either self-censorship or external intervention, and wilfully blind to the reality of #Taiwan the island state,” the group posted to X, calling attention to CBC’s correction notice.
The controversial CBC report was informed by a parallel investigation led by Garry Clement—a former RCMP proceeds-of-crime director—along with former CSIS Asia-Pacific chief Michel Juneau-Katsuya and publisher Dean Baxendale. The three co-authors of the forthcoming book Canada Under Siege spent the past year examining Bliss and Wisdom’s land acquisitions, foreign financial inflows, and political influence on Prince Edward Island. In his column for The Bureau, Clement warned that the RCMP’s refusal to investigate the group reflects “a chilling portrait of political complacency” and asserted that Canadian democracy is being degraded not by coups or force, but by “the quiet neglect of responsibility.”
CBC has not acknowledged external pressure behind the correction, but The Bureau has previously documented similar interference. In November 2024, China’s Consul General Yang Shu directly pressured Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim after he invited Taiwan’s representative to a civic luncheon, stating: “This was inappropriate… The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China is the only consular mission representing China in Vancouver.” The PRC expressed dissatisfaction with the participation of Taiwan’s envoy in the B.C. Consular Corps luncheon—despite established diplomatic practice allowing their attendance.
Given this backdrop, it is plausible—though not confirmed—that CBC received similar behind-the-scenes pressure following its original PEI report.
That concern finds further grounding in evidence tabled before Canada’s Hogue Commission and leaked intelligence reviewed by The Bureau.
A leaked October 2022 CSIS report analyzed by The Bureau found that China’s election interference and political influence in Canada have been enabled by Beijing’s covert “takeover” of Chinese-language media, along with sophisticated, massively funded schemes targeting mainstream outlets and seeking to control “key media entities,” according to intelligence documents.
These clandestine operations have involved threats against journalists, the documents state, as well as inducements—such as benefits offered by Vancouver’s Chinese Consulate to cultivate “key editors, producers, and high-ranking managers.”
Among the declassified top-secret records presented to the Hogue Commission by diaspora-group participant Gabriel Yiu is a July 2023 Canadian intelligence report titled “CHINA: Domination of Chinese-Language Media in Canada Poses National Security Threats.” The document details systemic Chinese Communist Party influence over Chinese-language media outlets in Canada.
“Communist Party of China (CPC)-friendly narratives inundate Chinese-language media in Canada,” it says. “Censorship (including self-censorship) is pervasive, and alternative voices are few or marginalized in mainstream Chinese-language media. This includes both traditional media, such as newspapers, and digital platforms like WeChat.”
In a column for The Bureau, Yiu wrote, “I believe the Canadian intelligence agency’s assessment is accurate. From my own experience as a commentator since the 1990s, I have observed these shifts.” He also underscored key excerpts from the CSIS report:
- “The CPC’s strategy to control media operates on two fronts: narrative control and platform control. [redacted] overt and clandestine.”
- “The CPC limits opportunities for dissenting voices [redacted], provides economic incentives [redacted], and fosters self-censorship [redacted].”
- “The CPC’s influence on Chinese-language media, shaping public opinion overseas, also supports other activities, including transnational repression and influencing electoral outcomes.”
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espionage
FBI Buried ‘Warning’ Intel on CCP Plot to Elect Biden Using TikTok, Fake IDs, CCP Sympathizers and PRC Students—Grassley Probes Withdrawal

Intel warned of tens of thousands of illegal votes via fake IDs tied to CCP-linked students; FBI shut it down days after Wray denied foreign interference.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced that his panel will launch a formal investigation into why the FBI in September 2020 ordered the withdrawal and destruction of an explosive “raw intelligence” report alleging that Beijing harvested American private identity data from millions of TikTok accounts, enabling Chinese intelligence to manufacture fraudulent driver’s licenses that “would allow tens of thousands of Chinese students” to cast mail-in ballots in favor of Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.
Grassley confirmed receipt of the now-declassified document and said it raises “serious national‑security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI.” The Senate Judiciary Committee is now requesting internal communications, a formal justification for the FBI’s “substantive recall” of the document, and a review of the FBI’s compliance with federal intelligence record-keeping laws.
The pre-election document does not assert that fraudulent ballots were cast, and explicitly warns that the information should not be actioned without FBI coordination. But the scale and specificity of the allegations—now under Senate scrutiny—have dramatically reignited questions over how U.S. intelligence agencies handled politically sensitive reports implicating the Chinese Communist Party in election interference.
According to Fox News, the heavily redacted FBI intelligence now under investigation has declassified sections that reveal the potential of a Beijing-directed voter fraud campaign designed to leverage Chinese international students, fraudulent ID records mailed into U.S. states, and populations sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party living in America, all in efforts to elect Joe Biden over Donald Trump.
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One section of the report cited by Fox News states the subject as: “[REDACTED] Chinese Government Production and Export of Fraudulent US Drivers Licenses to Chinese Sympathizers in the United States, in Order to Create Tens of Thousands of Fraudulent Mail-In Votes for US Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, in late August 2020.”
The FBI’s source allegedly obtained the information from an identified sub-source, who claimed they obtained the information from unidentified PRC government officials. One of the report’s core claims is that in late August 2020, the Chinese government had produced a large amount of fraudulent United States drivers licenses that were secretly exported to the United States.
The memo states: “The fraudulent drivers licenses would allow tens of thousands of Chinese students and immigrants sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party to vote for US Presidential Candidate USPER Joe ((Biden)), despite not being eligible to vote in the United States.”
As reported yesterday by The Bureau, the FBI’s report aligns with seizures from CBP in Chicago, where officers at the International Mail Facility intercepted nearly 20,000 counterfeit U.S. driver’s licenses in the first half of 2020—the vast majority shipped from China and Hong Kong. The licenses were often destined for college-aged recipients, with many containing real ID numbers and scannable barcodes, raising alarms that they could be used for fraudulent identification.
The FBI election interference report—allegedly pulled from circulation by then-Director Christopher Wray—contained consequential assertions about TikTok, which has been identified in subsequent U.S. intelligence assessments as a Chinese information warfare and election interference asset.
The 2020 memo stated: “China had collected private US user data from millions of TikTok accounts, to include name, ID and address, which would allow the Chinese government to use real US persons’ information to create the fraudulent drivers license.” It added that the fraudulent drivers licenses were to include true ID number and true address of U.S. citizens, making them difficult to detect, and that China planned to use the fraudulent drivers licenses to account for tens of thousands of mail-in votes.
Beijing has already succeeded in directing the social video app TikTok to “censor content outside of China,” according to a classified Department of Justice brief filed last summer in a case that casts one of the world’s most popular media platforms as a Chinese Communist Party weapon poised to attack Americans during an election or geopolitical crisis in the same manner as Chinese cyber-spies and hackers that are currently buried within North American critical infrastructure.
Yet the FBI “warning” document also reveals internal doubts. According to Fox News, FBI notations flagged gaps in the TikTok claim, stating that “a person’s address information was not a valid field when creating a TikTok account. It was unspecified how China would attain US address data from the application.” Another annotation stated that the source is available for re-contact.
The following page of the intelligence report reportedly included a directive for “SUBSTANTIVE RECALL,” dated September 25, 2020—one day after FBI Director Wray told Congress that the Bureau had seen “no coordinated voter fraud” ahead of the 2020 election. The FBI’s internal context note acknowledged that the source received the information from a sub-source who cited anonymous PRC officials. The warning section of the document repeated that the allegations were part of “an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence.” The document also stated: “Recipients should also ensure that any citation of the information in finished intelligence products draws on the SUBSTANTIVE RECALL of this report rather than the previous version.”
The document reportedly instructed all recipients to destroy all copies of the original report and remove the original report from all computer holdings, and to cite only the recall order in any future analysis. That sequence—first, a claim implicating China in voter manipulation; next, immediate questioning of the methodology; and finally, a full internal shutdown—has now become the focus of a politically and institutionally charged congressional investigation.
The remainder of the document is heavily redacted, Fox reported, and more information is being requested from the FBI as part of the Senate’s investigation. “Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings,” a Grassley spokesperson reportedly told Fox News.
The FBI memo’s resurfacing also casts renewed light on a broader internal struggle inside the U.S. intelligence community in 2020: whether to formally acknowledge China’s intent or actions in shaping the presidential election. At the time, DNI John Ratcliffe and a small group of dissenting officials reportedly suggested that China had taken covert steps to influence the race—particularly in opposition to Donald Trump—and that this was being downplayed or scrubbed from official analyses for political reasons. Ratcliffe’s January 7, 2021 memo to Congress directly accused senior intelligence officers of pressuring analysts to downplay or suppress these findings, especially at the CIA and ODNI. He wrote that the 2021 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) failed to fully and accurately reflect the scope of the Chinese government’s efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. federal elections.
According to Ratcliffe, internal IC investigations found that China analysts appeared reluctant to assess Chinese actions as interference because they tend to disagree with the administration’s policies. The whistleblower report from ODNI’s own Analytic Ombudsman warned of undue pressure on analysts offering alternative views and concluded that politicization existed from both above and below.
One of the officials who refused to back down was Christopher Porter, then the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber, who claims that his minority assessment on Chinese influence was effectively buried. Porter alleged in late 2024 that he was harassed and forced out of government after submitting his dissent.
In a series of posts on X applauding the decision to release the report to Grassley, Porter wrote that he was upbraided four years ago for raising similar warnings. He argued that the failure of U.S. intelligence to confront China’s espionage—particularly its hacking of critical infrastructure and telecommunications networks—would only embolden the regime. “We are now reaping the harvest of that bad decision,” he added. In another message, Porter emphasized that “politics has to stop at the water’s edge,” urging national leaders to call out Chinese influence operations “at the highest level.”
Porter went further, criticizing U.S. allies like the United Kingdom for dragging their feet on national security decisions regarding China’s penetration of telecommunications. Canada, under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, took about three years to decide on banning Huawei. Critics such as Porter attribute such reluctance to economic motives overriding sober analysis.
Today, with the FBI’s suppressed memo in the hands of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Porter’s and Ratcliffe’s minority views are no longer isolated warnings. They are now part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that political sensitivity—especially over which party Beijing may prefer—might have played a role in sidelining national security intelligence during one of the most consequential U.S. elections in history.
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