WASHINGTON (TNND) — It was for a time referred to as the "laptop from hell," the device Joe Biden’s son Hunter left at a repair shop and forgot about. The store’s owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, later handed it over to the FBI.

During a February 2023 House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio said, "You know who knew the laptop was real, was the FBI."

The New York Post first reported on some of the laptop’s contents, including Hunter Biden's business deals with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, in an October 2020 story that was for a time suppressed on Facebook and blocked on Twitter.

Bothcompanies later revealed they were told by government officials it was likely Russian disinformation.

In an interview with The National News Desk Thursday, journalist Michael Shellenberger detailed a new investigation he and Catherine Herridge released, that provided more evidence about the FBI's role.

They're just trying to make people think there is some relationship to the Russians when the FBI knew better than everyone that there wasn’t."

The newly released batch of internal messages suggests an FBI employee was given a "gag order" by the Office of General Council, or OGC, and later told to backtrack.

Another, is that the FBI’s criminal division confirmed there was an active investigation into the laptop, asking, "Is it corruption? Campaign finance?"

Later an employee wrote, "Oh crap. ok. It ends here."

"It just underscores how many people knew that the laptop was authentic, that it showed potential crimes. Instead, they perpetuated this idea that it was part of Russian disinformation," Shellenberger said.

That notion was bolstered by a statement signed by 51 former intelligence officials, which said those “emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden’s son Hunter had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'"

In terms of why this information is just coming out now, top officials at the FBI including Director Kash Patel say they’re committed to transparency, especially when it comes to the Biden family, and have hinted there will be more to come.