Mike Morell, the former acting CIA director, organized 50 peers to sign a letter erroneously stating that correspondence from Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian misinformation.
The emails were released by The New York Post in October 2020. Morell testified under oath to the House Judiciary Committee.
Biden purportedly utilized a letter during the October 22 debate to deflect allegations about his part in his family’s global influence-peddling execution.
BREAKING: In private sworn testimony, former acting CIA director Mike Morell says that The Biden campaign asked him to organize 50 colleagues to sign a letter in Oct. 2020 falsely claiming that emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop published by The NY Post were Russian disinformation
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) April 21, 2023
Efforts
Blinken, who worked for Biden’s campaign, contacted Morell in October 2020, prompting Morell to write a statement supporting Biden’s election.
Blinken shared a USA Today article with Morell about the FBI investigating Hunter’s laptop as part of a disinformation campaign. Morell contacted other retired CIA staff members, such as John Brennan and Leon Panetta, to collect signatures for a letter debunking The Post’s story.
After the Hunter Biden laptop leak Tony Blinken called his CIA buddy Mike Morell to make it go away, and Morell has now admitted to cooking up the bogus "Russian disinfo" letter from 51 intel insiders to “help Vice President Biden … because I wanted him to win the election.” pic.twitter.com/sYXuhmteEY
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 21, 2023
Morell received a call from Steve Ricchetti, chair of the Biden run for office, recognizing him for writing the press release after the debate.
Politico published a letter on October 19 titled “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.” Morell may have spoken to the campaign about the statement on another occasion.
The House Judiciary Committee is investigating the origins of a letter and asked for help from Blinken. They claim the Biden campaign played a part in suppressing The Post’s reporting, influencing the 2020 election.
The committee requested Blinken to provide all related documents and disclose the identities of those involved in the letter’s creation and promotion.
Discrediting
Intel community members interfering in a presidential election at the behest of a political campaign is unacceptable, regardless of political affiliation.
Intelligence officials tried to discredit a story about Russian disinformation to prevent it from influencing the 2020 presidential election.
It’s wrong for intelligence officials to be partisan and use their power to back a political candidate or party. This is a misuse of intelligence assets for partisan goals.
Distributing false information hurts the credibility of the intelligence group. The intelligence community provides vital information for national security and policy decisions.
When intelligence community members spread disinformation for partisan reasons, it damages public trust in their work.
