The CIA has been charged for its role in drafting a letter from 51 intelligence officials discrediting Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation.
The letter signed by 51 intelligence officials in 2020 just before the presidential election falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop had all the “classic features of a Russian intelligence operation.”
A Republican report released in May found that the CIA was actively involved in getting signatures for the letter that was “a political operation to help elect Joe Biden” in November 2020.
The government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit Thursday after it failed to receive requested documents from the agency related to the internal drafting of the letter.
The GOP report alleges that a CIA operative “may have assisted in obtaining signatures for the statement” and accuses former CIA deputy director and acting CIA director Mike Morell and the Biden campaign of conspiring to get the letter approved quickly. to get.
The CIA was involved in getting signatures for the letter from 51 intelligence agencies discrediting Hunter Biden’s laptop as disinformation, according to a bombshell Republican report
Hunter Biden’s laptop was the center of conversation in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election
A signatory to the statement, former CIA analyst David Cariens, “disclosed to the committees that a CIA employee associated with the agency’s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) informed him of the existence of the statement. and asked him if he would sign it. Notes in the home investigation report.
The CIA employee is said to have ‘asked’ Cariens if he wanted to sign the statement, to which he agreed.
“The committees have requested additional material from the CIA, which has so far ignored the request,” the report continues.
On October 19, 2020, Morell reportedly sent the final draft of the letter to the CIA for review, calling it a “rush job” so it could be approved.
The new report also revealed that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper provided editorial advice to “amplify the verbiage.”
On Oct. 18, emails in the report show Clapper emailing Morrell his intention to sign the letter.
He also offered a key sentence to include, writing: “I have one editorial suggestion for the letter: I think it would reinforce the verbiage if you say this has all the classic hallmarks of a Soviet/Russian intelligence operation rather than the ‘feeling’. of a Russian operation.
Morrell responded that Clapper’s suggestion was accepted and “It was a good one.”
Morrell testified before the House Judiciary Committee that an Oct. 17 phone call with Biden’s current Secretary of State Antony Blinken “definitely” piqued his interest in coordinating the letter.
However, Blinken has insisted he was not behind the infamous letter, stressing that he does not “do politics.”
“One of the great advantages of this job is that I don’t do politics, I don’t deal with it,” said the state secretary. “But regarding that letter — it wasn’t my idea, I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t ask for it,” Blinken said on Fox News.
At the time, he was reportedly behind the letter. Blinken was not a secretary of state but a Biden campaign adviser.
Asked by Fox News if he accepted the laptop’s legitimacy after most major news organizations verified it, Blinken said he would not discuss politics.
Biden and his campaign at the time cited the letter to discredit Hunter Biden’s laptop as a ‘Russian disinformation campaign’
The House Judiciary Committee headed by Jim Jordan will unveil a report entitled: The Hunter Biden Statement: How Senior Intelligence Community Officials and the Biden Campaign Worked to Mislead American Voters
‘I don’t do politics. I have a lot on my agenda. Some of the things we just talked about are trying to help Russian aggression against our allies, partners around the world and dealing with some of China’s challenges. We now have a situation in Sudan, which has completely taken up my time.’
Biden and his campaign at the time cited the letter to discredit Hunter Biden’s laptop as a “Russian disinformation campaign.”
The then-presidential candidate cited it during a debate with Trump just days after its publication on October 22, 2020, to deflect the investigation of his son’s alleged foreign-influenced trade plans.
Then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said at the time that Hunter’s laptop was actually “not part of a Russian disinformation campaign” and had made that clear to the FBI and the larger intelligence community.
The Republican report also details how the CIA coordinated with the Biden campaign to shop around the letter and get press coverage.
Former CIA senior adviser Nick Shapiro drafted a media pitch that he sent to a number of outlets, including Politico – who eventually wrote the first story – the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
Current White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, who at the time served as director of the Biden rapid response campaign, was included in emails from Shapiro about pressure to distribute the letter to the media.