House Republicans said Wednesday they will try to shut down a new Homeland Security intelligence panel, whose members include several Obama administration figures who spread disinformation about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The chief targets are James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, who ran the Central Intelligence Agency. They took part in an effort during the 2020 campaign to castigate Hunter Biden’s laptop as a Russian disinformation plot, when in fact it was authentic.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month named them to his new Homeland Intelligence Experts Group.
Rep. August Pfluger, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s subcommittee on intelligence, said the panel is a waste of resources and its members are an embarrassment.
“These men abused their positions of power perpetuating the Russia Hoax and serving as partisan operatives for the Democrat Party,” the Texas Republican said.
Mr. Mayorkas formed the experts panel to be a source of private sector wisdom. He said they will help Homeland Security’s counterterrorism efforts. The panel will meet four times a year.
Mr. Brennan and Mr. Clapper were both part of a letter signed by dozens of former intelligence pros in October 2020 saying disclosures from the laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
They cited their own national security experience in making the claim.
Yet by that time, the FBI had already obtained and verified the laptop as authentic.
Mr. Brennan was instrumental in circulating the letter.
In an earlier letter, Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee also called out the inclusion in the experts panel of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Tashina Gauhar, whom the lawmakers said was part of the Justice Department’s now-discredited pursuit of “collusion” accusations involving Russia and former President Donald Trump.
The intelligence panel follows an earlier bungle by Mr. Mayorkas, who last year announced a disinformation panel led by a woman who herself had a history of posting misleading information online, including attempting to discredit the Biden laptop and promoting the so-called Steele dossier that made unfounded claims about Mr. Trump.
The Washington Times has sought comment from Homeland Security for this story.
The new legislation withholds money for the intelligence panel. That is considered Congress’s way to veto administration actions.
Even if the legislation clears the House, it is unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate as a stand-alone measure, though Republicans could fight to include it in the annual spending bills.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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