Former CIA Chief Sought Debate ‘Talking Point’ With Hunter Biden Laptop Letter

 Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell asked fellow intelligence veterans to add their names to the letter suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign with a stated purpose of giving now-President Joe Biden‘s 2020 campaign a debate “talking point.”

The contents of his mid-October 2020 invites were first reported Thursday by the Washington Examiner, which confirmed with two separate sources with access to the correspondence, after which Just the News published an exchange between Morell and former CIA Director John Brennan about the recruiting effort.

Though the exact language appears to differ between emails sent out to dozens of former intelligence officials, the new reporting makes clear that multiple invites discussed a desire to give Joe Biden a “talking point” during his upcoming debate with then-President Donald Trump. In the email exchange published by Just the News, Brennan told Morell, “Ok, Michael, add my name to the list. Good initiative. Thanks for asking me to sign on.” Morell served as acting CIA director for several months between 2012 and 2013 during the Obama administration until Brennan was confirmed to take over the role and sworn in by Biden himself.

The letter went public on October 19, 2020, with the signatures of 51 intelligence veterans, saying the laptop’s alleged contents have “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” After POLITICO, the news outlet that first reported the statement, published a headline that said the former intelligence officials were claiming the story was “Russian disinfo,” then-candidate Joe Biden, Hunter’s father, used the statement to cast doubt on the laptop story during a debate.

After Trump brought up “the laptop from hell,” Biden fired back by saying there were “50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan.” Biden added: “Four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage.”

The laptop, which Hunter Biden allegedly abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware and was later seized by the FBI, became a subject of interest in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign when the New York Post began reporting on details of the younger Biden’s shady business dealings and personal life that it contained.

For years, federal investigators have been looking into Hunter Biden over his tax affairs, foreign business dealings, and a gun purchase, per The Washington Post. The president’s son has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing and a charging decision is reportedly approaching. Republican lawmakers have been conducting their own investigations into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings as well as finances of the Biden family at large over concerns of influence peddling.

Last month, congressional Republicans released portions of a transcribed interview in which Morell said “yes” when asked if a call around mid-October 2020 from Antony Blinken, an adviser to President Biden’s campaign who is now secretary of state, triggered the letter. Morell also testified that Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, called Morell following the October 22, 2022, debate to thank him for helping to put together the statement.

 

When asked what his intent with the letter had been, Morell said there were two intents. “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,” he explained, according to the transcript.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say Republicans released cherry-picked excerpts from the interview with Morell. They disclosed a different part of the transcript showing Morell said he could not remember Blinken asking or even suggesting that a statement about the laptop be put together.

“To be clear, no part of that interview demonstrates that Tony Blinken or any other Biden campaign official asked Mike Morell to write a letter about Hunter Biden’s laptop,” said a statement from a spokesperson for the Judiciary Democrats.

While Blinken denies soliciting the letter, Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have accused him of providing false testimony to Congress regarding his communications with Hunter Biden over the years and demanded records that refer or relate to the first son.

Among the signees on the letter, beyond Morell and Brennan, were former CIA Directors Leon Panetta, and Michael Hayden. Another of the letter’s most prominent signees, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in February accused POLITICO of “deliberately” misrepresenting its message. POLITICO defended its reporting about the letter.

Brennan and Clapper are expected to testify to the House “Weaponization” panel about the letter on May 11 and May 17, respectively, a source told Breitbart News.

Dan Hoffman, the CIA’s former Moscow station chief, recently came forward to say that he and “many others” were asked to sign the letter but declined to do it.

“I remember I got the letter, October 18, 2020, and at first glance, it seemed natural to lay the blame at the Kremlin’s doorstep. Remember, Vladimir Putin is in the Kremlin and he’s well known for cloak-and-dagger espionage operations,” Hoffman told Fox News. “But at the same time, there was no evidence and the letter noted there was no evidence. And I just felt like we needed to do the forensics.”