{"id":1924908,"date":"2023-05-05T08:10:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-cia-chief-sought-debate-talking-point-with-hunter-biden-laptop-letter\/"},"modified":"2023-05-05T08:13:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:13:24","slug":"former-cia-chief-sought-debate-talking-point-with-hunter-biden-laptop-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-cia-chief-sought-debate-talking-point-with-hunter-biden-laptop-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-CIA Chief Wanted to Discuss Hunter Biden Laptop Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-cia-chief-sought-debate-talking-point-with-hunter-biden-laptop-letter%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1924908&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Former CIA Deputy Director Asks Intelligence Veterans to Sign Letter Suggesting Hunter Biden Laptop Story is Russian Disinformation<\/h2>\n<p>Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell asked fellow intelligence veterans to add their names to a letter suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign with a stated purpose of giving now-President Joe Biden\u2018s 2020 campaign a debate \u201ctalking point.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The Invitation<\/h3>\n<p>The contents of his mid-October 2020 invites were first reported Thursday by the Washington Examiner, which confirmed with two separate sources with access to the correspondence, after which Just the News published an exchange between Morell and former CIA Director John Brennan about the recruiting effort.<\/p>\n<p>Though the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-cia-chief-sought-debate-talking-point-with-hunter-biden-laptop-letter\/\" title=\"Ex-CIA Chief Wanted to Discuss Hunter Biden Laptop Letter\">exact language appears<\/a> to differ between emails sent out to dozens of former intelligence officials, the new reporting makes clear that multiple invites discussed a desire to give Joe Biden a \u201ctalking point\u201d during his upcoming debate with then-President Donald Trump.\u00a0In the email exchange published by Just the News, Brennan told Morell, \u201cOk, Michael, add my name to the list. Good initiative. Thanks for asking me to sign on.\u201d Morell served as acting CIA director for several months between 2012 and 2013 during the Obama administration until Brennan was confirmed to take over the role and sworn in by Biden himself.<\/p>\n<h3>The Letter<\/h3>\n<p>The letter went public on October 19, 2020, with the signatures of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kevin-mccarthy-vows-subpoenas-for-51-intel-veterans-in-hunter-biden-probe\/\" title=\"Kevin McCarthy Vows Subpoenas For 51 Intel Veterans In Hunter Biden Probe\">51 intelligence veterans<\/a>, saying the laptop\u2019s alleged contents have \u201call the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.\u201d After\u00a0POLITICO, the news outlet that first reported the statement, published a headline that said the former intelligence officials were claiming the story was \u201cRussian disinfo,\u201d then-candidate Joe Biden, Hunter\u2019s father, used the statement to cast doubt on the laptop story during a debate.<\/p>\n<p>After Trump brought up \u201cthe laptop from hell,\u201d Biden fired back by saying there were \u201c50 former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fncs-carlson-if-youre-looking-for-election-rigging-look-no-further-than-media-treatment-of-hunter-biden-saga\/\" title=\"FNC's Carlson: 'If You're Looking for Election Rigging, Look No Further' Than Media Treatment of Hunter Biden Saga\">national intelligence folks<\/a> who said that what he\u2019s accusing me of is a Russian plan.\u201d Biden added: \u201cFour, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he\u2019s saying is a bunch of garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The Laptop<\/h3>\n<p>The laptop, which Hunter Biden allegedly abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware\u00a0and was later seized by the FBI, became a subject of interest in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign when the New York Post began reporting on details of the younger Biden\u2019s shady business dealings and personal life that it contained.<\/p>\n<p>For years, federal investigators have been looking into Hunter Biden over his tax affairs, foreign business dealings, and a gun purchase, per The Washington Post. The president\u2019s son has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing\u00a0and a charging decision is reportedly approaching. Republican lawmakers have been conducting their own investigations into Hunter Biden\u2019s foreign business dealings as well as finances of the Biden family at large over concerns of influence peddling.<\/p>\n<h3>The Testimony<\/h3>\n<p>Last month, congressional Republicans released portions of a\u00a0transcribed interview in which Morell said \u201cyes\u201d when asked if a call around mid-October 2020 from Antony Blinken, an adviser to President Biden\u2019s campaign who is now secretary of state, triggered the letter. Morell also testified that Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, called Morell following the October 22, 2022, debate to thank him for helping to put together the statement.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what his intent with the letter had been, Morell said there were two intents. \u201cOne 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,\u201d he explained, according to the transcript.<\/p>\n<h3>The Signees<\/h3>\n<p>Among the signees on the letter, beyond Morell and Brennan, were former CIA Directors Leon Panetta, and Michael Hayden. Another\u00a0of the letter\u2019s most prominent signees, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in February accused POLITICO of\u00a0\u201cdeliberately\u201d misrepresenting\u00a0its message. POLITICO defended its reporting about the letter.<\/p>\n<p>Brennan and Clapper are expected to testify to the House \u201cWeaponization\u201d panel about the letter on May 11 and May 17, respectively, a source told Breitbart News.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Hoffman, the CIA\u2019s former Moscow station chief, recently came forward to say that he and \u201cmany others\u201d were asked to sign the letter but declined to do it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember I got the letter, October 18, 2020, and at first glance, it seemed natural to lay the blame at the Kremlin\u2019s doorstep. Remember, Vladimir Putin is in the Kremlin and he\u2019s well known for cloak-and-dagger espionage operations,\u201d Hoffman told Fox News. \u201cBut at the same time, there was no evidence and the letter noted there was no evidence. And I just felt like we needed to do the forensics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say Republicans released cherry-picked excerpts from the interview with Morell. They disclosed a different part of the transcript showing Morell said he could not remember Blinken asking or even suggesting that a statement about the laptop be put together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, no part of that interview demonstrates that Tony Blinken or any other Biden campaign official asked Mike Morell to write a letter about Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop,\u201d said a statement from a spokesperson for the Judiciary Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>While Blinken\u00a0denies soliciting the letter,\u00a0Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have accused him of providing false testimony to Congress regarding his communications with Hunter Biden over the years and\u00a0demanded records that refer or relate to the first son.<\/p>\n<p>CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell asked fellow intelligence veterans to add their names to the letter suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign with a stated purpose of giving now-President Joe Biden\u2018s 2020 campaign a debate \u201ctalking point.\u201d The contents of his mid-October 2020 invites were first<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1588,"featured_media":1924909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[3620,5772,4480,7899,3822,6880,4509],"class_list":["post-1924908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-biden","tag-chief","tag-discuss","tag-ex-cia","tag-hunter","tag-laptop","tag-letter"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1924908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1924909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1924908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1924908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1924908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}