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The 51 ex-intelligence officials' Hunter Biden laptop letter

On Oct. 19, 2020, 51 former intelligence officials signed a statement saying the Hunter Biden laptop story had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." Politico ran it under the headline "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo." In 2023, signer Michael Morell testified that a call from Biden campaign adviser Antony Blinken triggered the letter.

Oct 19, 2020 ·

What the record shows

The statement appeared five days after the New York Post's laptop story. It acknowledged that the signers did not have evidence of Russian involvement. Politico's headline went further than the letter's wording, and James Clapper later said Politico distorted it. In April 2023, Morell told House committees that he had not planned a statement before Blinken contacted him around Oct. 17, 2020, and that the call triggered it. He said one aim was to help Biden because "I wanted him to win the election," and that the campaign asked for the letter to go first to the Washington Post. In March 2022, a Washington Post forensic review authenticated thousands of emails from the laptop data. On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump revoked the signers' security clearances by executive order.

What the record doesn’t support

In a fuller transcript, Morell said his memory was that Blinken did not direct or suggest a letter and only asked what he thought, and Blinken said he never asked Morell to write one. The letter said explicitly that it lacked evidence of Russian involvement and that the signers did not know whether the emails were genuine. Lawyers for other signers said none knew of any Blinken role and that the text went through CIA prepublication review.

Sources

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