(The Center Square) — The investigation into Hunter Biden took a turn this week after a career intelligence official reportedly testified that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Biden campaign were behind a letter from 51 U.S. intelligence officials discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop prior to the 2020 election.
House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, released a letter saying that former acting CIA director Michael J. Morell testified that he organized the letter at the behest of Blinken.
The claims of that letter were later debunked, but at the time they were used to silence the story until after the election. Recent reports have also shown that federal law enforcement pressured social media companies to censor the story, which they did after being told it was Russian disinformation, a claim that has also now been debunked.
Jordan and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, have sent a letter to Blinken demanding documents, communications and more related to the coordination after the New York Post broke the story just weeks before the election.
“Within five days of the article, on October 19, 2020, 51 former intelligence officials released a public statement attempting to discredit the contents of the New York Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden, stating that the story ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,’” the letter said. “News publications immediately ran with the statement, with Politico publishing a story with the headline, ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.’ Social media companies simultaneously restricted access to the Post story, including Twitter locking the Post’s feed and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s accounts for sharing a link to the article.”
The letter had no small impact on the election. In fact, President Joe Biden referenced the letter during a presidential debate to assuage fears that he could be compromised by foreign sources.
“Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, [President Trump’s] accusing me of is a Russian plan,” Biden said at the time. “They have said this 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.”
The House Judiciary Committee laid out their concerns in a statement:
“Morell testified that his communication with Blinken was one of a few communications he had with the Biden campaign, explaining that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, Chairman of the Biden campaign, following the October 22 debate to thank him for writing the statement. Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election. Based on Morell’s testimony, it is apparent that the Biden campaign played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election.”
Meanwhile, the investigation into Hunter Biden has ramped up. House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said he is now investigating nine Biden family members after the committee received more financial documents from the Treasury Department.
Comer says that large sums were transferred from at least one Chinese company that ended up in bank accounts controlled by the Biden nexus.
“Thousands of pages of financial records related to the Biden family, their companies, and associates’ business schemes were made available to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which confirm the importance of this investigation,” Comer said.
“The Biden family enterprise is centered on Joe Biden’s political career and connections, and it has generated an exorbitant amount of money for the Biden family,” he continued. “We’ve identified six additional members of Joe Biden’s family who may have benefited from the Biden family’s businesses that we are investigating, bringing the total number of those involved or benefiting to nine.”
Casey Harper
Casey Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey's work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.
