By RACHAEL BUNYAN
Former CIA director John Brennan has admitted that an infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials that sought to discredit reporting on Hunter Biden‘s laptop ‘was political’.
Brennan, the CIA chief during Obama’s administration, admitted to the House Judiciary Committee investigators in a four-hour closed-door deposition that the letter, which falsely claimed that emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop were Russian disinformation, was ‘political’, Fox News reports.
Brennan’s deposition comes as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is expected to give testimony on May 17.
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.
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 comes as a bombshell Republican report has claimed that the CIA was actively involved in getting the 51 signatures on the letter, which the House Judiciary Committee allege was part of a ‘political operation to help elect’ Joe Biden in November 2022.
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.
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.
It came after Morell admitted to the House Judiciary Committee last month that he was asked by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken – who at the time was a senior member of Biden’s campaign – to coordinate the letter.
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.
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 replied that Clapper’s suggestion was accepted and ‘It was a good one.’
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.
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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.
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.
‘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.
‘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.
I thought the CIA was not allowed to run covert ops in the United States? This shows that scumbags like Brennan, Clapper and Morrell are political operatives first and security agents looking out for national security last. They’ve done more damage to this country than the Soviet Union ever did.