April 21, 2023

Brooke Singman

campaign senior adviser, now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken "played a role in the inception" of the public statement signed by current and past intelligence officials that claimed the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell testified before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, and revealed that Blinken was "the impetus" of the public statement signed in October 2020 that implied the laptop belonging to Hunter Biden was disinformation.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Blinken Thursday, notifying him that the panels are "conducting oversight of federal law-enforcement and intelligence matters within our respective jurisdictions."

"We are examining that public statement signed by 51 former intelligence officials that falsely discredited a New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation," they wrote. "As part of our oversight, we have learned that you played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor, and we therefore request your assistance with our oversight."

In October 2020, weeks before the presidential election, dozens of ex-national security officials signed onto a letter claiming that Hunter's laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."

The former officials included former Obama CIA Director John Brennan, former Obama DNI James Clapper, and former CIA director, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, among others.

The lawmakers said that based on Morell’s testimony, it is "apparent" that the Biden campaign "played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election."

"Although the statement’s signatories have an unquestioned right to free speech and free association—which we do not dispute—their reference to their national security credentials lent weight to the story and suggested access to specialized information unavailable to other Americans," they wrote.

They added: "This concerted effort to minimize and suppress public dissemination of the serious allegations about the Biden family was a grave disservice to all American citizens’ informed participation in our democracy."

Jordan and Turner notified Blinken that they conducted a transcribed interview with Morell, who signed onto the letter.

"In his transcribed interview, Morell testified that on or around October 17, 2020 you reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story," they wrote. Blinken, at the time, was a senior adviser to the Biden campaign.

"According to Morell, although your outreach was couched as simply gathering Morell's reaction to the Post story, it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement," they wrote.

Morell testified that the Biden campaign "helped to strategize about the public release of the statement."

"Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election," Jordan and Turner wrote.

Morell testified: "There were two intents. One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue; and, two, it was to help Vice President Biden."

Jordan and Turner are demanding Blinken to provide material to help them to "advance" their oversight.

They demanded Blinken identify the people he communicated with about drafting the statement; and produce all documents referring to the statement.

Fox News first reported the existence of some type of investigation involving Hunter Biden in October 2020, ahead of the last presidential election. It became known then that the FBI had subpoenaed the laptop

Hunter Biden confirmed the investigation into his "tax affairs" in December 2020, after his father was elected president.

Fox News first reported in 2020 that the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s "tax affairs" began amid the discovery of SARs regarding funds from "China and other foreign nations.

The investigation is being led by Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018.

Hunter Biden’s Laptop and Making Intelligence Less Partisan

America has spent the past decade relearning an old truth: Few things are more corrosive to our democracy than the suspicion that U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies are playing politics.

The most egregious example came in the waning days of the 2020 presidential election, when the New York Post published damning excerpts from a laptop left by Hunter Biden in a Delaware repair shop. Seeking to squash the story, 51 former U.S. intelligence officials fired off an open letter claiming the reporting had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

The letter effectively killed the story. Few media outlets even examined the laptop’s contents. Twitter and other social-media platforms suppressed the Post’s piece, and some even banned users from sharing or commenting on it in the runup to Election Day.

We now know the letter was a partisan hit job. Emails obtained by congressional investigators show that the former intelligence officials who organized it were helping to execute a Biden campaign strategy. The lead organizer, former acting Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Morell, worked directly with Mr. Biden’s campaign to give the Democratic candidate “a talking point to use” in the final presidential debate. In addition, the Biden campaign helped coordinate the letter’s dissemination to major media outlets, ensuring that stories would highlight the national-security credentials of its signers.

The 51 officers were trotting a well-worn path. For four years, former intelligence-agency heads James Clapper and Michael Hayden used their credentials to condemn President Trump as a Russian asset or a “useful fool.” A third, John Brennan, invoked “information and intelligence” he received while at the CIA to support suspicions that Mr. Trump’s campaign had conspired with the Russians.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their official positions to engage in partisan political activities. Recognizing the heightened danger of politicizing intelligence and law enforcement, Congress “further restricted” employees of the CIA, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency and similar agencies by barring them from participating in political campaigns—even on their own time or in their personal capacities.

If the letter’s signatories had still been on the federal payroll, the Hatch Act would have prevented them from aiding the Biden campaign. Once they left government, however, the Hatch Act ceased to apply. They were free to invoke their intelligence credentials to craft political talking points.

Congress can end this bad behavior. As part of an effort to depoliticize the intelligence community, lawmakers should extend the Hatch Act’s restrictions to senior intelligence officials who continue to hold security clearances after they’ve left government. Postgovernment clearances are meant only to serve the government’s interests, but when senior officials enter the private sector, they routinely retain security clearances as a perk, which allows them to advise their old agencies and also pursue high-paid consulting gigs.

An extension of the Hatch Act would be a restriction of these senior officials’ First Amendment rights, but the Supreme Court explained in U.S. Civil Service Commission v. National Association of Letter Carriers (1973) why special restrictions on certain government jobs are constitutionally justified: “It is not only important that the Government and its employees in fact avoid practicing political justice, but it is also critical that they appear to the public to be avoiding it, if confidence in the system of representative Government is not to be eroded to a disastrous extent.”

That concern is still valid. The public also has a compelling interest in avoiding unverifiable and corrosive claims that argue for or against the election of a particular candidate. That interest outweighs a limited restriction on the speech of former senior officials, all of whom could engage in political activity if they relinquished their security clearances.

More reforms will be necessary to restore trust and confidence in America’s national-security bureaucracy. But Congress can take an important step to address the politicization of intelligence by ensuring that former senior officials stay out of politics while they have access to our nation’s secrets.

CIA SUED for working with the Biden campaign to produce 'Dirty 51' intel letter calling Hunter's laptop disinformation

The CIA has been sued for its role in helping to craft a letter from 51 intelligence officials discrediting Hunter Biden's laptop as Russian disinformation.

The letter that was signed by 51 intel officials in 2020 immediately before the presidential election falsely claimed that Hunter Biden's laptop had all the 'classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'

A Republican report released in May showed that the CIA was actively involved in getting signatures for the letter which 'was a political operation to help elect' Joe Biden in November 2020.

Government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit Thursday after it failed to receive requested documents from the agency regarding the internal crafting of the letter.

The GOP report alleges that a CIA employee 'may have helped in the effort to solicit signatures for the statement' and accuses former Deputy CIA director and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell and the Biden campaign of conspiring to quickly get the letter approved.

The CIA was involved in getting signatures for the letter from 51 intelligence agencies discrediting Hunter Biden's laptop as disinformation, according to bombshell Republican report

Hunter Biden's laptop was the center of conversation in the weeks leading to the 2020 election

One signer of the statement, former CIA analyst David Cariens, 'disclosed to the Committees that a CIA employee affiliated with the agency's Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) informed him of the existence of the statement and asked if he would sign it,' the House investigative report notes.

The CIA employee allegedly 'asked' Cariens if he would sign the statement, to which he agreed.

'The Committees have requested additional material from the CIA, which has ignored the request to date,' the report continues.

On October 19, 2020, Morell allegedly sent the CIA the final version of the letter to the Prepublication Classification Review for review and called 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 'strengthen the verbiage.'

On October 18, emails included in the report show Clapper emailing Morrell his intention to sign onto the letter.

He also offered a key phrase to include, writing: 'I have one editorial suggestion for the letter: I think it would strengthen the verbiage if you say this has all the classic earmarks of a Soviet/Russian information operation rather than the 'feel' of a Russian operation.

Morrell testified before the House Judiciary Committee that an Oct. 17 call with Biden's current Secretary of State Antony Blinken had 'absolutely' triggered his interest in coordinating the letter.

However, Blinken has insisted that he was not behind the infamous letter, insisting that he doesn't 'do politics.'

'One of the great benefits of this job is that I don't do politics, don't engage in it,' the secretary of State said. 'But with regard to that letter -it wasn't my idea, I didn't ask for it, didn't solicit it,' Blinken said on Fox News.

At the time he was allegedly behind the letter Blinken was not secretary of state but a Biden campaign adviser.

Asked by Fox News on if he accepted the laptop's legitimacy after most major news organizations have verified it, Blinken said he would not talk 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 led by Jim Jordan is set to unveil a report titled: The Hunter Biden Statement: How Senior Intelligence Community Officials and the Biden Campaign Worked to Mislead American Voters

'I'm not not engaging in politics. I've got a lot on my agenda. Some things that we just talked about, trying to help the Russian aggression against engaging with our allies, partners around the world and dealing with some of the challenges posed by China. We have a situation now in Sudan, this has fully occupied 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 a few days after its publication on October 22, 2020 to deflect scrutiny of his son's alleged foreign influence peddling schemes.

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 detailed how the CIA coordinated with the Biden campaign to shop the letter around and gain press coverage.

Former CIA senior adviser Nick Shapiro drafted a media pitch that he sent to a number of outlets including Politico - which ended up writing the initial story - the Washington Post and the Associated Press.

Current White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, who was serving as Biden campaign rapid response director at the time, was included on emails from Shapiro regarding the push to disseminate the letter to the media.

Ex-CIA chief admitted that the 'Dirty 51' letter 'WAS political' as agency conspired with Biden campaign to produce it and falsely claim emails on Hunter Biden's laptop were Russian disinformation

Former CIA director John Brennan has admitted the infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials falsely saying Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation 'was political'.

Brennan, the CIA chief during Obama's administration made the admission during his four-hour testimony to House Judiciary Committee investigators behind closed doors last week', Fox News reports.

Both Brennan and Clapper signed a letter by 51 former intelligence officials who claimed Hunter's laptop had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation'.

An email shows Brennan agreeing to have his name added to the letter of signatories by the then acting CIA Director Mike Morell.

John Brennan's deposition comes as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (pictured together in 2014) is expected to give testimony on May 17

One email seen by New York Post shows Morell asking Brennan to add his name to the signatories on the letter. Brennan emails back with his intention to sign the letter

Hunter's laptop included explicit photos of the troubled Hunter Biden naked, with prostitutes, and taking drugs, as well as multiple emails and texts between the 53-year-old and his father.

It alleges that a CIA employee 'may have helped in the effort to solicit signatures for the statement' and accuses former Deputy CIA director and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell and the Biden campaign of conspiring to quickly get the letter approved.

The CIA employee allegedly 'asked' Cariens if he would sign the statement, to which he agreed.

'The Committees have requested additional material from the CIA, which has ignored the request to date,' the report continues.

Morrell said he was asked by Blinken to rally former intelligence chiefs to agree that the laptop looked like a smear campaign.

On October 19, 2020, Morell allegedly sent the CIA the final version of the letter to the Prepublication Classification Review for review and called it a 'rush job' so it could be approved.

One email seen by New York Post shows Morell asking Brennan to add his name to the signatories on the letter. Brennan emails back with his intention to sign the letter.

On October 18, emails included in the report also showed Clapper emailing Morrell his intention to sign onto the letter.

Both Brennan and Clapper signed a letter by 51 former intelligence officials who claimed Hunter's laptop had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation'. Pictured: Hunter Biden and Joe Biden in Washington DC in 2016

The letter was ultimately signed by 51 former intelligence officials, including himself and four other former CIA directors, including John Brennan and Leon Panetta.

The letter was published by Politico five days after The New York Post first reported on the contents of the laptop.

The headline for Politico's story, on October 19, 2020, was: 'Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.'

The letter alleged that The New York Post story 'has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'

Several media outlets, including DailyMail.com, have since confirmed the contents of the laptop and that it belonged to Hunter Biden.

Joe Biden used the letter during the October 22 debate against Donald Trump, saying he thought the reporting around his son's abandoned computer was the work of Russia.

Morell was thanked for his work in coordinating the letter, with Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, telephoning him after the debate to say thank you.

He was then said to be in consideration for the role of CIA director - a job that ultimately went to William Burns.

Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop made for bombshell reports just before the 2020 presidential election

Hunter's laptop is brimming with files that give a shocking glimpse into his debauched life during which he engaged in drug use and prostitution

Morell, who has been a consultant, strategist, lecturer and author since his resignation almost a decade ago, said he was never formally in talks for the role.

Morrell recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee that an Oct. 17 call with Biden's current Secretary of State Antony Blinken had 'absolutely' triggered his interest in coordinating the letter.

At the time he was allegedly behind the letter Blinken was not secretary of state but a Biden campaign adviser.

Asked by Fox News on if he accepted the laptop's legitimacy after most major news organizations have verified it, Blinken said he would not talk politics.

Biden and his campaign at the time cited the letter to discredit Hunter Biden's laptop as a 'Russian disinformation campaign.'

Mike Morell was acting CIA director for several months in 2011 and again in 2012-13. He was asked by the Biden campaign in October 2020 to help recruit other former intelligence chiefs to discredit reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop

The Republican report also detailed how the CIA coordinated with the Biden campaign to shop the letter around and gain press coverage.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner sent a letter to Blinken last week telling him that they were examining the letter.

'As part of our oversight, we have learned that you played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor, and we therefore request your assistance with our oversight.'

The Biden campaign 'took active measures to discredit the allegations about Hunter Biden by exploiting the national security credentials of former intelligence officials,' the report also states.

Eleven Hunter Biden intel laptop letter signers have visited Joe Biden's White House, records reveal

At least 11 ex-intelligence officials who signed the infamous letter baselessly linking Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop to Russia have scored numerous visits to President Joe Biden’s White House, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Between October 2021 and January 2023, 11 letter signers frequented the White House a total of 24 times, White House visitor logs show. The letter has come back under the spotlight following a handful of revelations, including that its organizer, ex-Obama CIA head Mike Morell, was "triggered" by then-Biden campaign adviser and now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken to write the letter and that a CIA official solicited signatures for it, according to testimony and an email obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.

"Everyone who signed that letter had something to gain,” a former top White House official under both Joe Biden and Trump, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters and has relationships with multiple laptop letter signers, told the Washington Examiner. “They’ve washed themselves with the ability to say they were nonpartisan."

The White House visits, which have not been reported on until now, provide a window into how several of the 51 ex-intelligence officials who signed the Hunter Biden laptop letter have maintained certain ties to Bidenworld. Three letter signers, Jeremy Bash, Russell Travers, and Nicholas Rasmussen, went on to be tapped for top Biden administration positions, the Washington Examiner reported.

Morell notably provided a draft of the letter before publication to the CIA, which told him it contained "no classified information and can be published," according to emails obtained by the House Judiciary Committee. The ex-CIA official and also ex-senior CIA operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos co-authored the letter, which Politico published on Oct. 19, 2020. Three days after the letter was released, Joe Biden cited it in a debate with former President Donald Trump, noting that “former national intelligence folks” say the laptop was “a Russian plan” and “a bunch of garbage.”

While Morell is not listed in Biden White House visitor logs, Polymeropoulos is. He visited on June 14, 2021, with Marc Gustafson, special assistant to the president and senior director for the White House situation room, and almost one year later, on May 16, 2022, with Maher Bitar, senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council, according to records.

Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Polymeropoulos, told the Washington Examiner that the meetings pertained to a purported “traumatic brain injury” tied to the so-called Havana syndrome he sustained in Moscow while at the CIA. Further, the lawyer alleged that the “meetings had absolutely nothing to do with the laptop or the statement."

Zaid did not say which officials Polymeropoulos met with at the White House. He added that his seven laptop letter signer clients “stand by the contents that are within the 2020 statement,” and “no facts that have emerged since that time undermine any of their caveated assessments.”

Another one of Zaid’s clients who signed the letter is ex-CIA Directorate of Operations official Paul Kolbe, who went on to become a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Intelligence Project at the Belfer Center. Kolbe visited with Gustafson on June 4, 2021, and on Oct. 7, 2021, with Eric Green, then-special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia and Central Asia at the NSC, records show.

The visits were not related to the laptop or letter, according to Zaid, who noted that Kolbe “actually did not make the Oct. 21, 2021, event.” It’s unclear what event he was referring to, which is not listed in visitor logs.

When pressed over this, Zaid responded, “Whatever the date of that meeting was, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Biden laptop specifically or even Hunter Biden generally.”

Still, the Functional Government Initiative told the Washington Examiner it’s fair for the public to scrutinize any “continued contact” between the Biden administration and laptop letter signers, particularly because their actions, which were highly influential on a political level, were “debunked” as baseless.

Travers, ex-acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center and also deputy homeland security adviser to Joe Biden’s NSC from January 2021 to October 2021, visited the White House on Nov. 5, 2021, with ex-counterterrorism senior director at the NSC Clare Linkins, records show. Linkins reportedly left the council and took a job at the Office of Director of National Intelligence in May 2022.

“My lawyer recommends against answering any more questions,” Travers told the Washington Examiner in response to questions about whether his visits were in connection to Hunter Biden or the intelligence letter. Travers also said recently that he had “no contact” with the Biden campaign, or Joe Biden himself, before the letter was sent.

James Clapper, another laptop letter signer and Obama’s final director of national intelligence, visited the White House on Sept. 7, 2022, with Joe Biden for a one-on-one meeting, according to records. Michael Hayden, a CIA director under former President George W. Bush who went on to sign the laptop letter, visited the White House on Nov. 2, 2022, with Rear Adm. Eileen Laubacher, the senior director for South Asia on Joe Biden’s NSC, records show.

Leon Panetta, a former Obama CIA director and defense secretary who signed the laptop letter, is listed as visiting the White House in back-to-back days in September 2022. On Sept. 7, he visited along with 195 other people on the same day of the unveiling of the Obama White House portraits, a day that saw Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Obama, and former first lady Michelle Obama making remarks. He also visited on Sept. 8 with Mariana Adame, a counselor to Joe Biden, records show.

John Brennan, Obama’s final CIA director who also signed the letter, visited the White House on Jan. 26, 2023, with a woman named Sarah May, whose Biden administration role was not immediately identifiable by the Washington Examiner.

Yet another laptop letter signer who has frequented the White House is Glenn Gerstell, former general counsel of the National Security Agency between 2015 to 2020. He visited on Sept. 13, 2022, for what appears to have been the South Lawn event celebrating Joe Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, a major climate and energy spending bill.

Gerstell also visited the White House again on Nov. 10, 2022, with Xavier Ortega, an ex-Biden campaign field organizer who, as of September 2022, worked in the Office of the National Cyber Director.

Representatives or groups affiliated with Clapper, Panetta, and Brennan did not reply to requests for comment. Gerstell and Hayden did not reply.

"What is the reason for these meetings?" McGinnis asked. "Are they coordinating their stories on the laptop letter now that it has been debunked?"

David Buckley, the CIA inspector general from 2010 to 2015 who signed the letter and was staff director from July 2021 to January 2023 for the House Jan. 6 Committee, is listed as visiting the White House twice in 2022. The July 12 visit coincided with the White House congressional picnic, while the Dec. 5 one was the same day as the congressional ball at the White House.

Buckley also visited the White House on Jan. 6, 2023, along with 231 other people. The logs list a second visit by Buckley the same day with 169 people as well.

Rasmussen, who directed the counterterrorism center from 2014 to 2016 under Trump and became Joe Biden's counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security in November 2022, has visited the White House at least seven times, according to visitor logs. Nick Shapiro, ex-deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director in Obama's CIA and a letter signer, visited on Oct. 13, 2022, with Priya Singh, then-special assistant to the president and chief of staff for the domestic policy council, according to records.

Speaking to the Washington Examiner, the aforementioned former White House official who was granted anonymity said, "As someone who waved people in regularly for meetings," visitor logs only capture a snippet of how high-profile guests may spend a given day at the White House. All in all, getting through the doors can lead to off-book meetings with those in the highest levels of government, the official said.

"These people are seasoned D.C. intelligence players," the ex-official said. "They know how to navigate the White House quite well."

The White House did not reply to multiple requests for comment, nor did DHS. Buckley and a consulting firm led by Shapiro did not either.

Named and Shamed: Full List of Deep State Agents Who Lied About Hunter Biden’s Laptop

During the 2020 election, 51 former “intelligence” officials joined ranks with the mainstream media to cast doubt on the Hunter Biden laptop stories. According to these officials, the stories were likely a Russian smear campaign.

But the 51 former “intelligence” officials who cast doubt on the Hunter Biden laptop stories in a public letter really were just desperate to get Joe Biden elected president.

And more than a year later, even after their Deep State sabotage has been shown again and again to be a lie, they refuse to own up to how they undermined an election.

The officials, including CNN pundit and professional fabricator James Clapper — a man who was nearly charged for perjury for lying to Congress — signed a letter saying that the laptop “has the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

What proof did they have? By their own admission, none. “We do not know if the emails . . . are genuine or not,” the letter said. They’re just “suspicious.” Why? Because they hurt Biden’s campaign, that’s evidence enough.

Keep in mind this was written Oct. 19, 2020, five days after The Post published its first story. Neither Joe Biden nor Hunter Biden had denied the story, they simply deflected questions. Didn’t these security experts think that if this was disinformation, the Biden campaign would have yelled to the heavens that the story was false?

Meanwhile, though the letter was advertised as being signed by people who worked “for presidents of both political parties,” a majority of the officials were Democrats.

Politico picked up the letter and ran the false headline “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” That headline is still online today, even though the letter clearly says they don’t know if it’s Russian disinformation.

That headline was tweeted out by legions of Democrats, including current White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, as proof that it was all a con. That tweet also is still up despite being proven false.

Thus pure speculation by a group of biased officials became gospel among the media. This was “fake news,” and could be safely ignored.

Keep in mind that Twitter already had banned The New York Post a few days before. The rationale was that this was “hacked materials,” even though it wasn’t — and Twitter had no evidence to think it was. A Facebook official, meanwhile, said it wasn’t going to allow the sharing of The Post’s story until it was “fact checked” by a third party — a check that never happened.

Thus, Big Tech, former government officials, and the media conspired together to bury a story.

No, not just bury — create a false narrative that flipped the script to make Joe Biden the victim of a conspiracy.

No one actually proved The Post’s reporting was wrong. Media outlets showed up at the doorstep of the computer repairman who had gotten the laptop, and he confirmed it. People who exchanged e-mails with Hunter Biden attested to their accuracy in the days and weeks that followed.

Only after the election was safely over did Hunter tacitly admit the laptop was his. Last year, a Politico reporter confirmed that the laptop’s materials were real. And now, the coup de grace: The Times said it’s “authenticated” material from the laptop.

There have been no consequences. Twitter and Facebook still censor information based on political bias, and Congress takes no action. Many of the letter signers continue to be used as “experts” by the media. Clapper, for instance, spent years on CNN calling Donald Trump a “Russian asset,” a lie invented and fed by political operatives of Hillary Clinton. He’s still there. Guess accuracy is not a condition of employment.

Do the officials who tried to flip the 2020 election feel any regret for their actions? The Post reached out to those who signed the letter. Most would not answer the question. A few doubled-down, including Clapper. No remorse. No shame. And no apologies:

Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence, now CNN pundit: “Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph. I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”

Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, now runs a public policy institute at California State University: Declined comment.

John Brennan, former CIA director, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.

Thomas Fingar, former National Intelligence Council chair, now teaches at Stanford University: Didn’t respond.

Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank: Didn’t respond.

John McLaughlin, former CIA acting director, now teaches at Johns Hopkins University: Didn’t respond.

Michael Morell, former CIA acting director, now at George Mason University: Didn’t respond.

Mike Vickers, former defense undersecretary for intelligence, now on board of BAE Systems: Didn’t respond.

Doug Wise, former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, teaches at University of New Mexico: Didn’t respond.

Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, now executive director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism: Didn’t respond.

Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center acting director: “The letter explicitly stated that we didn’t know if the emails were genuine, but that we were concerned about Russian disinformation efforts. I spent 25 years as a Soviet/Russian analyst. Given the context of what the Russians were doing at the time (and continue to do — Ukraine being just the latest example), I considered the cautionary warning to be prudent.”

Andy Liepman, former National Counterterrorism Center deputy director: “As far as I know I do [stand by the statement] but I’m kind of busy right now.”

Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff, now senior advisor to The Chertoff Group:
Didn’t respond.

Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.

Glenn Gerstell, former National Security Agency general counsel: Didn’t respond.

David Priess, former CIA analyst and manager: “Thank you for reaching out. I have no further comment at this time.”

Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.

Kristin Wood, former CIA senior intelligence officer, now non-resident fellow, Harvard: Didn’t respond.

Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst and targeting officer, now senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute: Didn’t respond.

Don Hepburn, former national security executive, now president of Boanerges Solutions LLC: “My position has not changed any. I believe the Russians made a huge effort to alter the course of the election . . . The Russians are masters of blending truth and fiction and making something feel incredibly real when it’s not. Nothing I have seen really changes my opinion. I can’t tell you what part is real and what part is fake, but the thesis still stands for me, that it was a media influence hit job.”

Timothy D. Kilbourn, former dean of CIA’s Kent School of Intelligence Analysis: Didn’t respond.

Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, now on board of the International Spy Museum: “I don’t have any comment. I would need a little more information.”

Emile Nakhleh, former director of CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, now at University of New Mexico: “I have not seen any information since then that would alter the decision behind signing the letter. That’s all I can go into. The whole issue was highly politicized and I don’t want to deal with that. I still stand by that letter.”

Nick Shapiro, former CIA deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director: Didn’t respond.

Stephen Slick, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs:
Didn’t respond.

Cynthia Strand, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues: Didn’t respond.

David Terry, former National Intelligence Collection Board chairman: Couldn’t be reached.

Greg Treverton, former National Intelligence Council chair, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “I’ll pass. I haven’t followed the case recently.”

Intelligence officer says Biden and Blinken were behind a letter discrediting Hunter Biden story

The fire crackling under the House of Representatives’ Hunter Biden laptop investigation saw more logs thrown on the embers this week.

Michael Morell, a former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, exposed the involvement of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Biden campaign in suppressing a news story about the now-president’s wayward son Hunter Biden.

Morell testified in House Judiciary Committee that that Blinken, who was a senior advisor to the Biden campaign during the 2020 election, was responsible for organizing a letter signed by 51 U.S. intelligence officials that discredited the Hunter Biden laptop story.

The letter falsely implied that the reporting by the New York Post about Hunter Biden was Russian disinformation. It was used to silence the story until after the election. Recent revelations show that federal law enforcement pressured social media companies to censor the story based on this false claim by officials and former officials.

Twitter, under the old management system of Jack Dorsey, cancelled the Twitter account of the New York Post after it broke the story about what was on the laptop and how it linked to Joe Biden.

Mainstream media continues to run cover for the government fingerprints all over Twitter in the 2020 election. NPR calls the decision to block the Post a “short-lived decision.”

Recently, NPR divorced itself from the Twitter platform after a label was put on its account advising the public that NPR is essentially state-sponsored news.

This is not the only committee investigating the Biden-Hunter Biden connection. Earlier this year, a House Oversight Committee hearing went on for more than six hours, with newly-in-power Republicans accusing the social media company of colluding with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Biden campaign to censor the Hunter Biden story.

During that hearing, Yoel Roth, the former executive of trust and safety at Twitter, denied any government involvement in the decision to censor the New York Post. The White House called that hearing “a bizarre political stunt,” and said that Republicans were trying to re-litigate the 2020 election.

In response to this new testimony, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, both of Ohio, are demanding documents and communications from Secretary of State Blinken.

The revelation raises serious concerns about the integrity of the Biden campaign and the actions of high-ranking officials deep within the U.S. government intelligence circles to suppress information during a critical election period.

On Oct. 14, 2020, the New York Post published a report detailing how Hunter Biden used the position and influence of his father, now-President Joe Biden, for personal gain with the apparent awareness of President Biden.

The article reported on several emails found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden that he had abandoned in a Delaware computer shop. The contents of the emails cast doubt on President Biden’s previous denials of speaking to his son about his international business dealings.

Within five days of the article being published, on Oct. 19, 2020, 51 former intelligence officials released a public statement attempting to discredit the contents of the New York Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden, stating that the story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Legacy news organizations immediately ran with the statement, with Politico publishing a story with the conclusive headline, “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.”

During the final presidential debate on October 22, then-Vice President Biden cited the public statement to rebut President Trump’s criticism of the Biden family business dealings.

The two committees recently conducted a transcribed interview with Morell, a former Deputy Director of the CIA and one of the 51 signatories of the public statement.

In the interview, Morell testified that on or around Oct. 17, 2020, Blinken reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story. According to Morell, it set in motion events that led to the issuance of the public statement.

That same day, Oct. 17, Blinken emailed Morell an article published in USA Today alleging that the FBI was examining whether the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a “disinformation campaign.” The very bottom of the email he sent to Morell included the signature block of Andrew Bates, then-director of rapid response for the Biden campaign.

Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election, Jordan’s office said.

“Based on Morell’s testimony, it is apparent that the Biden campaign played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election,” the committee report said. “Although the statement’s signatories have an unquestioned right to free speech and free association—which we do not dispute—their reference to their national security credentials lent weight to the story and suggested access to specialized information unavailable to other Americans. This concerted effort to minimize and suppress public dissemination of the serious allegations about the Biden family was a grave disservice to all American citizens’ informed participation in our democracy.”

Read the full letter to Secretary Blinken, including transcripts of the interview with Morrell, here.

FBI validated Hunter Biden laptop months before experts claimed Russian disinformation

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1KVajR_0nDVfrXs00

Months before 51 intelligence experts, the media and Joe Biden claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop was nothing but Russian disinformation, the FBI had authenticated the device and had expressed confidence that its contents had not been manipulated in any way, according to a new IRS investigative memo.

According to IRS Supervisory Criminal Investigative Agent and now whistleblower Gary Shapley, who penned a memo in October 2020, “we have no reason to believe there is anything fabricated nefariously on the computer and or hard drive” and that “there are emails and other items that corroborate the items on the laptop and hard drive”.

The memo provided a chonology of how the FBI validated the laptop as having belonged to Hunter Biden as early as November 2019 and that by spring 2020 it was analyzing its contents.

“The whole discussion was about: Can we rely on this information on the laptop, is it Hunter Biden’s? And their opinion was, it was, and it was not manipulated in any way,” IRS Whistleblower Gary Shapley told The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

A congressional lawyer then asked Shapley if there was reliable evidence and Shapley replied “That is correct”.

This latest report collaborates claims by Just the New and right leaning media companies that the laptop was indeed Hunter Biden’s but the mainstream media, FBI and Joe Biden himself all dismissed the claims and dismissed any talk about the laptop as being “Russian disinformation”. Big Tech platforms such as Twitter even restricted the New York Post from reporting on the story.

It turns out that the laptop wasn’t Russian disinformation and the FBI knew that as early as November 2019, according Shapley.

“The FBI verified its authenticity in November of 2019 by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID,” he explained.

“When the FBI took possession of the device in December 2019, they notified the IRS that it likely contained evidence of tax crimes,” Shapley also stated. Shapley noted that the IRS drafted the search warrant to take formal possession of the device.

Ex-acting CIA Director Mike Morell has admitted in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that he organized the letter from the 51 intel experts after being contacted by now Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

In April, Morell admitted that he had two goals in mind when he signed this letter. “There were two intents. One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue; and, two, it was [to] help Vice President Biden,” Morrell testified.

“You wanted to help the Vice President? Why?” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan asked.

“Because I wanted him to win the election,” Morrell testified.

Morrell also claimed that prior to the phone call with Blinken, he had no intent to write the letter.

The letter was signed in October 2020 by 51 intelligence officials, “warning” that the New York Posts’ story on Hunter’s laptop “sounds like disinformation”.

“If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this,” the signers added.

Included in these 51 officials were Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, John Brennan, former CIA director and Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence.

John Brennan has also admitted that the letter ‘was political.’

Testimony: State Department, CIA worked together to suppress Hunter Biden laptop story to help Biden win election

By Casey Harper | The Center Square
Apr 21, 2023

Kosovo US Biden — Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, with his son Hunter Biden in a 2016 file photo.
Visar Kryeziu / AP file photo

(The Center Square) – The investigation into Hunter Biden took a turn this week after a career intelligence official reportedly testified that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Biden campaign were behind a letter from 51 U.S. intelligence officials discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop prior to the 2020 election.

House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, released a letter saying that former acting CIA director Michael J. Morell testified that he organized the letter at the behest of Blinken.

The claims of that letter were later debunked, but at the time they were used to silence the story until after the election. Recent reports have also shown that federal law enforcement pressured social media companies to censor the story, which they did after being told it was Russian disinformation, a claim that has also now been debunked.

Jordan and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, have sent a letter to Blinken demanding documents, communications and more related to the coordination after the New York Post broke the story just weeks before the election.

“Within five days of the article, on October 19, 2020, 51 former intelligence officials released a public statement attempting to discredit the contents of the New York Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden, stating that the story ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,’” the letter said. “News publications immediately ran with the statement, with Politico publishing a story with the headline, ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.’ Social media companies simultaneously restricted access to the Post story, including Twitter locking the Post’s feed and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s accounts for sharing a link to the article.”

The letter had no small impact on the election. In fact, President Joe Biden referenced the letter during a presidential debate to assuage fears that he could be compromised by foreign sources.

“Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, [President Trump’s] accusing me of is a Russian plan,” Biden said at the time. “They have said this this has all the characteristics – four – five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except him and his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”

The House Judiciary Committee laid out their concerns in a statement:

Morell testified that his communication with Blinken was one of a few communications he had with the Biden campaign, explaining that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, Chairman of the Biden campaign, following the October 22 debate to thank him for writing the statement. Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election. Based on Morell’s testimony, it is apparent that the Biden campaign played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the investigation into Hunter Biden has ramped up. House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said he is now investigating nine Biden family members after the committee received more financial documents from the Treasury Department.

Comer says that large sums were transferred from at least one Chinese company that ended up in bank accounts controlled by the Biden nexus.

"Thousands of pages of financial records related to the Biden family, their companies, and associates’ business schemes were made available to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which confirm the importance of this investigation," Comer said.

"The Biden family enterprise is centered on Joe Biden’s political career and connections, and it has generated an exorbitant amount of money for the Biden family," he continued. "We’ve identified six additional members of Joe Biden’s family who may have benefited from the Biden family’s businesses that we are investigating, bringing the total number of those involved or benefiting to nine."

Biden campaign 'triggered' letter discrediting Hunter Biden laptop story, ex-CIA director confirms

FILE - Hunter Biden arrives in the East Room before President Joe Biden speaks awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people at the White House in Washington, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (TND) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who prior to his current post was a top official on Joe Biden's campaign for president, was a catalyst behind a letter signed by 51 different senior intelligence officials that sought to discredit the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story, according to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.

Just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, the New York Post dropped its bombshell laptop story, outlining how Biden's son Hunter may have used his family's name for personal gain, and potentially with his father's knowledge.

Just days after the story was published, 51 senior officials in the intelligence community penned a letter insisting the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation.

"This is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this," the letter stated.

The same day the letter was released, Politico published an article reporting on the matter with a headline that read: "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say."

Furthermore, during a nationally televised debate with his opponent Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election, Biden insisted The Post's laptop story accusations were "a bunch of garbage," citing the intelligence officials' analysis to back up his claim.

But one of the infamous letter's signatories, former Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Michael Morrell, admitted in an interview with the House Judiciary Committee that Blinken triggered the letter.

"In his transcribed interview, Morell testified that on or around October 17, 2020, [Blinken] reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story," a letter House Republicans sent to Blinken Thursday states. "At the time, you served as a senior advisor to the Biden campaign. According to Morell, although your outreach was couched as simply gathering Morell's reaction to The Post story, it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement."

"Prior to [Secretary Blinken's] call, you — you did not have any intent to write [the letter]?" Morell was asked by staff from the House Judiciary Committee.

"Okay. So his call triggered —," the questioner continued before Morell seemingly cut him off.

According to Judiciary Republicans, Morell also testified that the Biden campaign "helped to strategize about the public release of the statement."

"Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election," Judiciary Republicans insisted.

In their letter, House Republicans requested Blinken hand over all documents and communications related to the intel community letter, and identify all officials he communicated with regarding the statement's draft by May 4.

Spies who lie: 51 'intelligence' experts refuse to apologize for discrediting true Hunter Biden story
By Post Editorial Board March 18, 2022 8:35pm

They are the supposed nonpartisan group of top spies looking out for the best interest of the nation.

But the 51 former "intelligence" officials who cast doubt on The Post's Hunter Biden laptop stories in a public letter really were just desperate to get Joe Biden elected president. And more than a year later, even after their Deep State sabotage has been shown again and again to be a lie, they refuse to own up to how they undermined an election.

The officials, including CNN pundit and professional fabricator James Clapper a man who was nearly charged for perjury for lying to Congress signed a letter saying that the laptop "has the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."

What proof did they have? By their own admission, none. "We do not know if the emails . . . are genuine or not," the letter said. They're just "suspicious." Why? Because they hurt Biden's campaign, that's evidence enough.

Keep in mind this was written Oct. 19, 2020, five days after The Post published its first story. .....

Do the officials who tried to flip the 2020 election feel any regret for their actions? The Post reached out to those who signed the letter. Most would answer the question. A few doubled-down, including Clapper. No remorse. No shame. And no apologies:

Mike Hayden, former CIA director, now analyst for CNN: Didn't respond.

Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence, now CNN pundit: "Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph. I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate."
Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, now runs a public policy institute at California State University: Declined comment.
John Brennan, former CIA director, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn't respond.
Thomas Fingar, former National Intelligence Council chair, now teaches at Stanford University: Didn't respond.
Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank: Didn't respond.
John McLaughlin, former CIA acting director, now teaches at Johns Hopkins University: Didn't respond.
Michael Morell, former CIA acting director, now at George Mason University: Didn't respond.
Mike Vickers, former defense undersecretary for intelligence, now on board of BAE Systems: Didn't respond.
Doug Wise, former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, teaches at University of New Mexico: Didn't respond.
Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, now executive director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism: Didn't respond.
Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center acting director: "The letter explicitly stated that we didn't know if the emails were genuine, but that we were concerned about Russian disinformation efforts. I spent 25 years as a Soviet/Russian analyst. Given the context of what the Russians were doing at the time (and continue to do Ukraine being just the latest example), I considered the cautionary warning to be prudent."
Andy Liepman, former National Counterterrorism Center deputy director: "As far as I know I do [stand by the statement] but I'm kind of busy right now."
John Moseman, former CIA chief of staff: Didn't respond.
Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff, now senior advisor to The Chertoff Group:
Didn't respond.
Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn't respond.
Rodney Snyder, former CIA chief of staff: Didn't respond.
Glenn Gerstell, former National Security Agency general counsel: Didn't respond.
David Priess, former CIA analyst and manager: "Thank you for reaching out. I have no further comment at this time."
Pam Purcilly, former CIA deputy director of analysis: Didn't respond.
Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn't respond.
Chris Savos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn't respond.
John Tullius, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn't respond.
David A. Vanell, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn't respond.
Kristin Wood, former CIA senior intelligence officer, now non-resident fellow, Harvard: Didn't respond.
David Buckley, former CIA inspector general: Didn't respond.
Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst and targeting officer, now senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute: Didn't respond.
Patty Brandmaier, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn't respond.
James B. Bruce, former CIA senior intelligence office: Didn't respond.
David Cariens, former CIA intelligence analyst: Didn't respond.
Janice Cariens, former CIA operational support officer: Didn't respond.
Paul Kolbe, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn't respond.
Peter Corsell, former CIA analyst: Didn't respond.
Brett Davis, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn't respond.
Roger Zane George, former national intelligence officer: Didn't respond.
Steven L. Hall, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn't respond.
Kent Harrington, former national intelligence officer: Didn't respond.
Don Hepburn, former national security executive, now president of Boanerges Solutions LLC: "My position has not changed any. I believe the Russians made a huge effort to alter the course of the election . . . The Russians are masters of blending truth and fiction and making something feel incredibly real when it's not. Nothing I have seen really changes my opinion. I can't tell you what part is real and what part is fake, but the thesis still stands for me, that it was a media influence hit job."
Timothy D. Kilbourn, former dean of CIA's Kent School of Intelligence Analysis: Didn't respond.
Ron Marks, former CIA officer: Didn't respond.
Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, now on board of the International Spy Museum: "I don't have any comment. I would need a little more information."
Emile Nakhleh, former director of CIA's Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, now at University of New Mexico: "I have not seen any information since then that would alter the decision behind signing the letter. That's all I can go into. The whole issue was highly politicized and I don't want to deal with that. I still stand by that letter."
Gerald A. O'Shea, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn't respond.
Nick Shapiro, former CIA deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director: Didn't respond.
John Sipher, former CIA senior operations officer: Declined to comment.
Stephen Slick, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs:
Didn't respond.
Cynthia Strand, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues: Didn't respond.
Greg Tarbell, former CIA deputy executive director: Didn't respond.
David Terry, former National Intelligence Collection Board chairman: Couldn't be reached.
Greg Treverton, former National Intelligence Council chair, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: "I'll pass. I haven't followed the case recently."
Winston Wiley, former CIA director of analysis: Couldn't be reached.

What Follows is a Typical Example of the multitudes of Articles Pushed by the Corrupt MSM Due to the aforementioned Traitors' Misinformation Campaign That Was Fed to The All-Too Complicit MSM Just Prior to the 2020 Election:

Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say

More than 50 former intelligence officials signed a letter casting doubt on the provenance of a New York Post story on the former vice president’s son.

Biden campaign, Blinken orchestrated intel letter to discredit Hunter Biden laptop story, ex-CIA official says