CIA sought signatures for Hunter Biden laptop letter, per congressional testimony.

The CIA’s Involvement in the Hunter Biden Laptop Story

Recent Congressional Testimony Reveals CIA’s Role in Infamous 2020 Letter

According to recent congressional testimony, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) not only solicited signatures for but also approved the infamous 2020 letter claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a Russian disinformation plot. The letter was eventually signed by more than 50 former senior U.S. intelligence officials. The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will release a report on Wednesday detailing the CIA’s involvement in the distribution of the letter.

• Former CIA analyst David Cariens disclosed 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 PCRB reviews statements, letters, and books published by former intelligence personnel to determine whether the material contains any classified information that would need to be removed or redacted prior to publication.
• The CIA official tasked with reviewing and approving a memoir Cariens planned to publish told him about the Hunter Biden laptop letter and even asked him if he would like to sign it.

The letter was first submitted to the PCRB by former CIA acting director and Joe Biden campaign surrogate Mike Morell on Oct. 19, 2020. The CIA review board acknowledged receipt of the letter the same day. Just hours later, former CIA official Kristen Wood bcc’ed a distribution list of former intelligence officials asking them to sign the letter, which had been drafted by Morell and Marc Polymeropoulos, who retired from the CIA in 2019. Cariens later responded to Wood’s email and agreed to sign the letter.

Impact on the 2020 Election

The reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop and its implications created a firestorm during the 2020 campaign and resulted in numerous publications and accounts being banned from social media for reporting on the laptop. The letter from the former intelligence officials was used to justify the censorship of reporting on the laptop’s contents. However, there was zero evidence showing that the laptop and the stories surrounding it were Russian disinformation, and the federal government knew the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden.

Numerous polls taken since the 2020 election show that the coordinated efforts between U.S. intelligence agencies and social media tech companies may have even tipped the election to Biden by censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story and preventing voters from knowing the truth about the emerging Biden corruption scandal before they voted.

Testimonies and Reactions

Both Morell and Polymeropoulos testified that a current CIA official’s involvement in the promotion and solicitation for participation in the letter they drafted would be highly inappropriate. Nick Shapiro, another Biden campaign surrogate and former CIA deputy chief of staff, also testified that a CIA official actively soliciting help for a Biden campaign initiative would be beyond the pale.

The full House weaponization subcommittee report is expected to be released on Wednesday.