Biden Campaign Played Active Role in Suppressing Hunter Biden Laptop Story, Congressional Testimony Reveals

Within days of the New York Post first breaking news of Hunter Biden’s laptop, Secretary of State Antony Blinken — then a senior official on Joe Biden’s campaign — reached out to a former CIA operative to collect signatures from senior American intelligence figures to discredit the story, according to recently declassified congressional testimony.

Mike Morell, a former deputy director at the CIA and a signatory to the infamous letter, reportedly told the House Judiciary Committee in private sworn testimony that Blinken personally reached out to him to manufacture the letter to undermine the credibility of the Post’s reporting on the eve of the 2020 presidential election.

Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary, sent a letter to Blinken on Thursday demanding more information about the public letter signed by 51 senior intelligence operatives who dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as likely “Russian disinformation.”

“We are examining the origins of the infamous 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,” Jordan wrote.

“Morell testified that…you reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story. 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.”

When asked what the intention of the letter was, the former intelligence agent explained that he had two motivations: “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.”

Morell further added that several other Biden officials were aware of the exchange including Andrew Bates, the Democratic presidential candidate’s rapid response director, and Steve Ricchetti, the campaign chairman.

The letter was signed by heavyweight national-security figures such as former CIA directors John Brennan and Leon Panetta. The signatories acknowledged in the letter that they had no actual evidence that Hunter’s laptop was a Russian plant but nevertheless claimed the Post story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The letter had the desired effect: then-candidate Biden brandished it during an October debate with then-President Trump to dismiss the allegations of Hunter’s improprieties. And several prominent national media outlets, including Politico, cited the letter uncritically as evidence that the Post’s reporting about Hunter’s foreign business ties and unsavory personal life were manufactured by Russian intelligence.

The findings from the interview led Jordan to demand Blinken identify everyone he communicated with and share all relevant documents pertaining to the public statement.

“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,” Jordan wrote.

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