FBI Director Kash Patel said he has uncovered evidence that former FBI leadership suppressed an investigation showing Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election, according to exclusive reporting. Patel plans to present proof to Congress this week that former FBI Director Christopher Wray lied under oath about the existence of such evidence.
The investigation centers on an Internal Intelligence Report produced by the FBI field office in Albany, New York, which documented Chinese Communist Party efforts to interfere in the 2020 election. According to sources, FBI headquarters recalled the report solely because it contradicted Wray’s testimony to Congress that China was not conducting a foreign influence campaign in United States elections.
The Albany office had been investigating claims that the CCP produced fake driver’s licenses to obtain fraudulent paper ballots. After publishing their findings in an Internal Intelligence Report, headquarters ordered them to pull the document and pretend it never existed, according to Patel’s forthcoming testimony.
Current FBI officials discovered the suppressed report while reviewing the actions of former leadership. Correspondence found by Patel’s team shows the report was taken down specifically because officials admitted “the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.”
During a Senate hearing in September 2020, Wray was asked by Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan whether voting by mail was secure. Wray responded that the FBI took all election threats seriously and insisted they had not seen any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election. However, Patel’s findings suggest this testimony was false.
On June 17, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wrote to Patel requesting more information about the concealed report to better understand the decision behind rescinding it. In response, Patel will detail how his FBI found correspondence showing the report was suppressed to protect Wray from potential fallout over his congressional testimony.
The investigation reveals that the CCP allegedly used access to TikTok social media accounts to create numerous fake driver’s licenses in an effort to apply for and obtain fraudulent ballots during the 2020 presidential election. Sources familiar with the investigation indicate this represented a coordinated effort to interfere in the election process.
Patel indicated that the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force did not approve the reissuance of the Internal Intelligence Report after it was pulled and failed to properly investigate the reported information or follow logical investigative leads, despite corroborating intergovernmental reporting.
In a statement with Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Patel said the findings expose how previous FBI leadership chose to play politics and withhold key information from the American people, demonstrating the weaponization of law enforcement for political purposes during the 2020 election season.
Patel has vowed that there will be accountability for those who tried to bury the report and continue pushing claims that there was no legitimate evidence of CCP foreign influence campaigns targeting the 2020 presidential election. The current FBI leadership team promised aggressive transparency and committed to working to fix underlying problems to restore the bureau as a trusted institution.
During his 2020 testimony, Wray had downplayed concerns about Chinese interference in national elections, though he admitted there was some evidence of tampering in local and state elections. The newly uncovered evidence suggests this characterization was incomplete and potentially misleading.
Patel, who was nominated by Trump to replace Wray as FBI Director, previously served as a Justice Department prosecutor and gained prominence as a House Intelligence Committee staffer who helped author the “Nunes Memo” detailing FBI surveillance issues during the Russia investigation.
Critics and supporters alike view Patel’s role at the FBI as part of Trump’s broader effort to reshape federal law enforcement agencies. Current and former Justice Department officials have expressed concerns about the potential politicization of the FBI under Patel’s leadership, while supporters argue he will restore accountability and transparency to the bureau.
Democrats have largely avoided directly engaging with Kash Patel’s specific allegations about Chinese interference in the 2020 election, instead focusing their criticism on his overall fitness to serve as FBI Director.
Election law expert Rick Hasen told NBC News that Patel’s claims represent “an uncorroborated story of unknown origin with no evidence that anything actually happened, and certainly no evidence that any ballots were cast or illegal voters were even registered to vote using state identifications.”
A former senior FBI official suggested that Patel share “the information with both Republicans and Democrats so there can be a balanced look and heal the country instead of causing more distrust and discontent playing into the hands of our foreign enemies.”
Rather than issuing formal rebuttals to the Chinese interference allegations, Democratic leaders like Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin have concentrated their opposition on broader concerns about Patel’s qualifications, calling him “dangerous, inexperienced, and dishonest” and arguing he “has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Media outlets aligned with Democratic perspectives have characterized Patel’s claims as “conspiracy theories” and part of a “cottage industry” of election fraud allegations, while MSNBC described the Chinese interference allegations as a “weird new 2020 election conspiracy theory.”
This strategic approach suggests Democrats view Patel’s claims as politically motivated rather than serious intelligence matters requiring detailed substantive responses.
