Why is public trust in American institutions, including the press, in free fall? One reason is the revelation last week that the Biden for President campaign helped to organise the open letter that spread disinformation about Hunter Biden’s famous laptop computer on Oct. 19, 2020.
The House Judiciary and Intelligence committees released portions of a deposition transcript exposing the origins of the statement from 51 former US spies declaring that Hunter’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The admission came from Mike Morell, former deputy CIA director under Barack Obama. The letter served its political purpose of giving the media and Joe Biden the opening to dismiss the New York Post’s laptop scoop as Russian disinformation.
It turns out the Biden campaign was behind the letter. Mr Morell told Congress under oath that he received a phone call from Antony Blinken on Oct. 17, 2020 — three days after the Post published emails from Hunter’s laptop. Mr Blinken was then a senior adviser to the campaign and is now Secretary of State.
According to a letter the House committees sent to Mr Blinken last week, Mr Morell said the call was “couched as simply gathering Morell’s reaction to the Post story,” yet it “set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement.”
Committee question to Mr Morell: “Prior to [Mr Blinken’s] call, you — you did not have any intent to write this statement?”
Mr Morell: “I did not.”
The letter says Mr Morell also “explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement.” Mr Morell says he then contacted an aide to former CIA director John Brennan to say “the Biden campaign wanted the statement to go to a particular reporter at the Washington Post first and that he should send the statement to the campaign when he sent the letter to the reporter.”
Mr Morell acknowledged he had two goals with the statement: to “share our concern with the American people,” and to “help Vice President Biden” “win the election.”
All of this took place shortly before the final presidential debate, and Mr Biden pointed to the Gang of 51’s statement that his campaign helped to generate as proof that the Hunter laptop was phony: “Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, [President Trump is] accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said that this has all the characteristics — four — five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage!”
Mr Morell told the committee that following the debate, Biden campaign chair (and now senior White House aide) Steve Ricchetti called to thank him for the statement. No doubt. The Biden campaign had in essence generated its own disinformation, marshaling the authority of supposedly nonpartisan intelligence veterans to discredit a story that was accurate about laptop emails that were authentic.
The committees are seeking more information from Mr Blinken about the Biden campaign’s role, and the public deserves answers. Statement signers like former Obama director of national intelligence James Clapper have since admitted they had no evidence to make their disinformation claims, and Mr Clapper claims the media “distorted” their views. No, the press did precisely what Mr Blinken and the 51 spooks wanted: Use their letter to discredit the Hunter laptop and the information on it that raised questions about the Biden family business with foreigners.
Intelligence officials, former as well as current, have a particular duty not to spread disinformation because they have access to classified information that the public can’t check. The press overwhelmingly went along with the false Biden campaign claims because it wanted Mr Biden to win. These 51 officials have done more to damage the credibility of the CIA and FBI than anything Donald Trump has said. Ditto for the complicit media.
The Wall St Journal
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