Hannity: The scandal in Biden's White House
Hidden Hand: Biden Campaign Was Behind Intel Officials’ Letter Characterizing Hunter Biden Laptop as ‘Disinformation’
Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell says he organized the letter to help Biden 'win the election'
Biden campaign officials prompted a group of former spies to pen the infamous 2020 letter that falsely asserted that Russia was behind the release of emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell told the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door interview that he organized a group of 50 former intelligence officials to sign the letter after discussions with Sec. of State Tony Blinken, who served on the Biden campaign. Republicans on the committee revealed details of the interview Thursday, in a letter to Blinken which claims the Biden campaign’s actions "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."
Morell said Blinken contacted him on Oct. 17, 2020, to discuss a New York Post story that revealed emails from the younger Biden’s abandoned laptop. The ex-spy also said Blinken sent him an article that said the FBI was investigating whether the laptop was part of a "disinformation campaign." Morell said that Blinken’s outreach "triggered" him to draft a letter that dismissed the release of the emails as a probable Russian disinformation operation. He forwarded it to former CIA Director John Brennan and others to sign.
Morell, who was reportedly on Biden’s short-list for CIA director, said the Biden team helped strategize the letter's release. He testified the campaign told him they wanted to provide the letter to the Washington Post. The document was ultimately provided to Politico, which published it on Oct. 19 with the headline, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say."
There is no evidence that Russia was involved in the release of Biden’s emails, which shed light on his business dealings with China and his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. A computer shop owner has said that he provided copies of Biden’s laptop to reporters after Biden abandoned it at his store in 2019.
Morell said he organized the letter because he wanted Biden to win the election.
"There were two intents," Morell said. "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."
Asked why he wanted to help Biden, Morell said: "Because I wanted him to win the election.
Biden cited the letter during a presidential debate with Donald Trump, but did not disclose that his campaign was behind it.
"There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he's accusing me of is a Russian plant," Biden said after Trump brought up Hunter Biden's computer.
Morell testified that members of the Biden campaign thanked him after the debate for organizing the letter, including Steve Ricchetti, who now serves as White House counselor.
Update 9:35 a.m.: This piece has been updated to include additional information.
Testimony Reveals Blinken — As Adviser to Biden Campaign — Spurred Letter from 51 Intel Officials Discrediting Hunter Laptop Story
An author of the now-debunked public statement from 51 intelligence officials casting doubt on the bombshell Hunter Biden laptop story revealed this month to Congress that Antony Blinken, then a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, was the impetus for the statement.
Former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell testified to the House Judiciary Committee on April 4 that now-Secretary of State Blinken called him about the laptop story just days after the New York Post published it and that the call “triggered” Morell to draft the statement.
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Michael Turner (R-OH), chairmen of the Judiciary and Intel Committees, respectively, made the revelation on Thursday in a letter to Blinken, obtained by Breitbart News, that included portions of Morell’s testimony.
The chairmen wrote that Morell testified in the closed-door interview with the committee that Blinken’s call to Morell was “couched as simply gathering Morrell’s reaction to the Post story” but that “it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement.”
Blinken, at the time, served as then-candidate Joe Biden’s “closest” foreign policy adviser, according to the New York Times.
The campaign paid Blinken more than $100,000 for his work in 2020, Federal Election Campaign records show.
The chairmen’s letter to Blinken included the below testimony from Morell to the committee:
Q: But, prior to [Secretary Blinken’s] call, you – you did not have any intent to write this statement?
A: I did not.
Q: Okay. So his call triggered –
A: It did, yes.
Q: – that intent in you?
A: Yes. Absolutely.
Read the full letter to Blinken below:
The Post’s story, written by now-Breitbart News Political Editor Emma-Jo Morris, revealed weeks before the 2020 presidential election damning information about the Biden family’s business dealings based on information found on an abandoned laptop of Hunter’s that the Post had obtained.
Twitter notoriously immediately began blocking users from sharing the story, and Facebook suppressed it as well.
Amid fierce backlash from Republicans that the social media companies were censoring negative Biden information that was pertinent to the election, Politico reported that 51 former senior intelligence officials had signed onto a statement that the laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” bolstering those who found the now heavily corroborated story dubious.
Hunter Biden walks along the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, November 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The chairmen pointed out that then-presidential candidate Joe Biden relied on the statement from the intel officials in the final presidential debate on October 22, saying during the debate:
Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, [President Trump’s] accusing me of is a Russian plan. 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.
Morell told the Judiciary Committee during his testimony that he also communicated with other Biden campaign officials and that the campaign sought to help coordinate the public dissemination of the statement.
The campaign, for instance, requested the intel officials release the statement through a specific reporter at the Washington Post, according to an email between Morell and another signatory on the statement.
Morell also told the committee his two motives for publishing the statement were to “share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue” and to help Biden win the election.
“Based on Morrell’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,” the chairmen wrote, charging that the statement served to prevent “American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election.”
The Ohio Republicans asked that Blinken provide various records and communications on the matter to them by May 4.
While the congressmen noted they are seeking compliance from Blinken in his personal capacity, they said they addressed the letter to him in his official capacity with the State Department as a courtesy.
Breitbart News has reached out to the department for comment.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.
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