Former CIA chief behind infamous Hunter Biden laptop letter allegedly 'misled' signatories: Report



Former acting CIA Director Mike Morell allegedly "misled" signatories of the infamous letter downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop story by telling them he would clear the letter with the CIA before releasing it.

On Oct. 18, 2020, Morell sent intelligence officials an email soliciting their endorsement of the letter. According to the New York Post, he promised to "clear the statement with the Publication Review Board at CIA" the next day.

But on Oct. 19, 2020, Politico broke news of the letter, using it to claim the laptop story was "Russian disinfo."

The timeline suggests, according to the Post, that the "required pre-publication security review by the CIA, a lifelong obligation for all former agency employees," never happened because the review process can take months.

More from the Post:

[The letter] also omitted the boilerplate disclaimer required by the CIA to be included in any such intelligence assessment, which would have declared: “All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the Central Intelligence Agency.”

Last week, the Washington Examiner reported that the email Morell sent on Oct. 18 explicitly contained the motive for drafting the letter: to give then-presidential candidate Joe Biden a "talking point" at his next debate with Donald Trump.

More news is coming out about the letter as House Republicans investigate its origins. Last month, Morell purportedly testified under oath that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, then a senior adviser to Biden's presidential campaign, was the impetus to the letter, having planted the seed that Russia was behind the laptop story.

For his part, however, Blinken has denied any involvement in the letter.

Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief, revealed to Fox News last month that Morell asked him to sign the letter. But he ultimately chose not to because he saw "no evidence" that Russia was involved, nor were the arguments of the letter subjected to routine debate and scrutiny — such as the security review that Morell allegedly promised.

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Newly reported email: Letter downplaying Hunter Biden laptop was meant to give Biden a 'talking point'



The infamous letter used to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story was meant to give Joe Biden's campaign a "talking point" in a debate with then-President Donald Trump.

After the New York Post broke news of the laptop, Mike Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA, sent intelligence officials a "recruitment email," the Washington Examiner reported, soliciting their endorsement of a letter that suggested the laptop story was Russian disinformation. While signatories of the letter now claim they were not explicitly denouncing the laptop as Russian "disinformation," Politico, which broke news of the letter, reported at the time that the laptop story is "Russian disinfo" based upon the letter.

On Oct. 18, 2020, one day before Politico broke news of the letter, Morell sent an email requesting endorsements for the letter, which he co-authored with former senior CIA operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos.

The email explained that both men believed the laptop story was another Russian attempt to meddle in the presidential election and argued that Trump was planning to use the laptop story as ammunition against Biden at their next debate.

"We want to give the VP a talking point to use in response," Morell wrote in the email, according to the Examiner.

Did it work?

Yes.

Trump inevitably mentioned the laptop at the next debate after the story broke, describing it as the "laptop from hell." Biden then seized the opportunity to push the Russian disinformation talking point.

"There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he's accusing me of is a Russian plant. They have said that this has all the characteristics — five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage," Biden said. "Nobody believes it except him and his good friend, Rudy Giuliani."

What is the significance?

News of the email is significant because Morell allegedly testified under oath last month that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who at the time served as a senior adviser to Biden's campaign, was the impetus behind the letter.

Blinken, however, has denied any involvement in the letter.

"With regard to that letter, I didn't — wasn't my idea, didn't ask for it, didn't solicit it. And I think the testimony that the former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morell, put forward confirms that," Blinken told Fox News.

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