Even though four years have passed, new information continues to leak out about the 51 supposed intelligence officials who signed a statement in 2020 declaring that the story about Hunter Biden's laptop had "all the hallmarks" of a Russian disinformation campaign. Joe Biden would go on to cite those officials during a debate with Donald Trump. Of course, the laptop was real and they all knew it the entire time, leading some outlets like the New York Post to dub them, "the spies who lie." The lies have apparently not ended yet, however. Newly revealed documents show that at least two of the officials were employed as CIA contractors at the time that the letter was created. Former CIA acting director Michael Morell and ex-CIA Inspector General David Buckley were under contract to the agency. Yet when they were contacted to ask about that relationship, they both either denied it or refused to comment. (NY Post)
Some of the 51 “Spies Who Lie” were active CIA contractors when they claimed files from first son Hunter Biden’s laptop had “the classic earmarks” of Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election — a fact that was uneasily noted inside the agency, records acquired by The Post show.
Former CIA acting director Michael Morell, who previously told Congress he organized the Oct. 19, 2020, letter to give former Vice President Joe Biden a “talking point” ahead of a debate against President Donald Trump, was under contract with the CIA at the time, the agency told Congress.
Ex-agency inspector general David Buckley also was a contractor at the time of the letter, according to an interim report from two House committees investigating the matter, and records suggest that at least two other letter-signers may also have had active contracts at the time.
Morell denied the allegation twice when contacted by the Post, but it's not the media making this claim. Congress obtained a CIA document from the period listing him as a contractor. So either the CIA was making up phony documents in 2020 or Morell is lying again now. Which seems more likely? The other alleged contractor, David Buckley, could not be reached for comment so at least he hasn't lied about it... yet.
Why is this important? At the time of the original 2020 letter, both men listed themselves as "former" intelligence operatives. Participating in the creation of that letter could be viewed as political activity, making their involvement a potential Hatch Act violation. But more than that, the people who signed off on that letter knew that the FBI had been in possession of the laptop since 2019 and verified it as authentic, or at least some of them did. Yet they put out their letter right before the presidential debate as an overt act of election interference.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) released a statement condemning the Biden administration over this sort of collusion and election interference.
“This damning report from House Republicans confirms what the American people have known for years,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “Joe Biden and his campaign colluded with the 51 disgraced former intelligence officials and weaponized the highest levels of the CIA, including signatories of the statement that were actively in a contractual relationship with the CIA, to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop story. House Republicans will continue to expose this blatant weaponization of the federal government and hold both Joe Biden and his administration accountable through our constitutionally mandated role of oversight.”
Of course, none of this came out until long after the election was over and it was too late. The Democrats continued to accuse Trump and the Republicans of election interference. This is just one more example of how whenever the left accuses conservatives of something, it's evidence that they are doing precisely the same thing in the background. They did it in 2016 and they did it in 2020. The question is, will they try it again this year? It seems as if it's almost a certainty. The next question is, what form will it take this time? Whenever they wheel out some sort of bombshell announcement intended to dampen Trump's election prospects, take it with a gigantic grain of salt and begin investigating the claim immediately.
