It was the story that might well have completely derailed Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. After the dust from that year’s election settled, a significant number of Biden voters told pollsters they would probably have cast their ballots differently, had they known about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. When the New York Post broke the story in 2020, the establishment media and social media companies sprang into action, determined to bury it, lest Biden’s White House hopes were diminished. In the latest twist to the saga, a former deputy director of the CIA revealed the Biden campaign’s direct involvement in the suppression of the story.
This effort to protect Biden from negative exposure got a big boost from a large group of former Intelligence Community (IC) officials. Fifty-one senior figures who previously served in agencies such as the CIA, NSA, and the Defense Intelligence Agency signed a statement crafted specifically to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop news. Who could doubt their credentials? If they assert that the emails recovered from the laptop bore “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” who would dare question them?
Hunter Biden Laptop Story Verified
After the election, of course, the same media companies that dismissed the laptop saga and crowed about that letter from the intelligence “experts” quietly admitted they were wrong. The laptop did indeed belong to Hunter Biden, as it turned out. The incriminating emails were genuine. The Russians had nothing to do with it. As for those who signed the statement, well, they had promoted a theory that was nonsense. Of course, the bases were covered. “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not,” the former IC officials had written, “and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement.” They knew that very few American voters would read the full letter. All that mattered was that they, the men who once led the Intelligence Community, had publicly weighed in to dismiss what would have been a major problem for the preferred presidential. The inconspicuous admission that there was no evidence to support their claim gave them plausible deniability if accused of election interference.
Ironically, the signatories to the letter questioning the validity of the Hunter Biden laptop story also expressed their concerns that “American citizens should determine the outcome of elections, not foreign governments.” They added, “All of us agree with the founding fathers’ concern about the damage that foreign interference in our politics can do to our democracy.”
Surely, accusing the most senior former IC officials of political bias is going too far. Perhaps not. Michael Morrell, one of the signatories to the letter, was in the CIA during Barack Obama’s presidency. On two occasions, he served as acting director. During his recent testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, Morell admitted there were two intents behind their statement: “One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue,” he told lawmakers, “and, two, it was to help Vice President Biden." When asked why he had wanted to help Mr. Biden, he responded, “Because I wanted him to win the election."
Biden Campaign Culpability
Antony Blinken (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
That wasn’t the most interesting thing Morrell told the committees, however. He revealed that the letter was composed in October of 2020, shortly after he was approached by Antony Blinken, regarding the Hunter Biden laptop news. Blinken is now secretary of state but, at that time, he was the senior foreign policy advisor to the Biden presidential campaign.
The former CIA number two also admitted that the Biden campaign "helped to strategize about the public release of the statement." In a letter to Blinken, demanding that he produce all documents related to his communications with former intelligence officials related to the laptop story, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, (R-OH), and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said in part:
"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."
The White House has called House Republicans’ claims about payments made to the Biden family from Chinese banks and other foreign entities “misleading.” Nevertheless, Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018. That investigation surrounds his “tax affairs” and Suspicious Activity Reports regarding funds transferred to him from the above-mentioned foreign companies.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently dodged questions on the IRS whistleblower who alleges political interference in the Hunter Biden investigation. At the April 21 press briefing, neither that subject nor the matter of the laptop got a mention.
