The 2020 letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop story was fueled by a phone call from then-Biden campaign adviser Antony Blinken to former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morrell, according to a House investigation.
Mr. Morrell told investigators that the letter was quickly drafted as “a talking point” for Joseph R. Biden’s upcoming debate with President Trump.
The House Weaponization of the Government and Intelligence Committees released transcripts of interviews with Mr. Morrell and other top intelligence officials that reveal a coordinated effort to label the laptop story “Russian disinformation.”
The report also found that high-ranking CIA officials, including then-Director Gina Haspel, were alerted to the letter discrediting the laptop ahead of the letter’s release by pro-Biden operatives, who filtered it to the public through several hand-picked media outlets.
The laptop story, published by the New York Post on Oct. 14, 2020, was poised to upend the 2020 election. Its tawdry contents revealed not only the drug-addled exploits of Mr. Biden’s troubled son Hunter, but also messages and documents connecting his business dealings with his powerful father.
Mr. Morrell helped quash the laptop story five days after the bombshell story, releasing a letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials claiming it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Mr. Morrell’s emails at the time show he conjured up the letter to help Mr. Biden win in 2020 and prevail in an upcoming debate with Mr. Trump.
“We think Trump will attack Biden on the issue at this week’s debate [and] we want to give the [vice president] a talking point to use in response,” Mr. Morrell wrote in an Oct. 18, 2020, email to former Senior Intelligence Service Officer Marc Polymeropoulos, enlisting his help with the letter.
Mr. Biden indeed used the letter to bat down Mr. Trump during the debate held four days later.
Mr. Trump on the debate stage attacked Mr. Biden about Hunter Biden’s laptop emails that connected him to his son’s lucrative deals.
“If this is true, then he’s a corrupt politician,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Biden swung back with the letter orchestrated by Mr. Morrell.
“There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s 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. Nobody believes it except him and his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”
In his 2023 House deposition, Mr. Morrell said he had no idea if the laptop was Russian disinformation but he suspected Russians could be involved, based on his knowledge of their tactics.
The laptop has since been verified and is considered key government evidence in a pending tax fraud case against Hunter Biden.
Mr. Morrell defended the letter in his deposition, noting it included “caveats” that none of the signers had direct knowledge of Russian involvement.
He also admitted that, at the time, he emphasized to journalists that the signers of the letter did not know if the laptop was disinformation, or if the emails were real or not.
But his warning about the speculative nature of the letter was hidden from the public because he provided those statements “off the record” to certain media outlets, including The Associated Press, Politico and The Washington Post.
The signers of the letter included Democrats and Republicans, including many GOP critics of Mr. Trump.
Two of the signers, including Mr. Morrell, were on the CIA payroll at the time, serving in contractor roles.
Mr. Morrell detailed the day he decided to initiate the letter.
It started with Mr. Blinken contacting him either by email or phone call about the New York Post’s laptop story on Oct. 17, 2020.
Mr. Blinken then forwarded a USA Today article about revealing the FBI was probing the origins of the laptop.
The email with the USA Today article originated with Andrew Bates, then director of the Biden campaign’s rapid response team and current White House deputy press secretary.
Mr. Morrell said he did not know whether Mr. Biden’s campaign team planted the story with the USA Today reporters to stir up suspicion about the laptop.
But the call from Mr. Blinken, Mr. Morrell said, “triggered” his plan to create the letter raising suspicion about the story and to reinforce it with a long list of former top intelligence officials from both parties to help quash it quickly ahead of the looming election.
The New York Post article was subsequently blocked from social media for weeks and largely ignored by mainstream news media.
Mr. Morrell would not take credit for the story, now entirely verified, going dark ahead of the election.
“There were two intents,” Mr. Morrell said. “One 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.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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