The report also found CIA Director Gina Haspel and other senior CIA officials knew ahead of the publication that the letter was coming.
At least two of the 51 signatories of the infamous letter labeling reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop as a potential “Russian information operation” were CIA contractors when they signed the letter the House Weaponization Subcommittee revealed in a new report Tuesday.
The report also found CIA Director Gina Haspel and other senior CIA officials knew ahead of publication that the letter was coming.
The report sheds new light on one of the most controversial public debates of the 2020 presidential election. The reporting on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop—which contained evidence of what House Republicans now call an influence peddling scheme involving his father—was originally published by the New York Post at the height of the election season.
“We knew that the rushed statement from the 51 former intelligence officials was a political maneuver between the Biden campaign and the intelligence community. Now with this interim report, we reveal how officials at the highest levels of the CIA were aware of the statement and CIA employees knew that several of the so-called former officials were on active contract with the CIA. The report underscores the risks posed by a weaponized federal government,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said in a statement.
The 51 former officials published the signed letter warning that the release of emails from the Hunter Biden laptop bore the hallmarks of a Russian influence operation less than a month before the election. Biden then used the letter to defend himself in the final debate with President Donald Trump.
“Look, 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,” Biden said.
At least two of the 51 signatories of the infamous letter labeling reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop as a potential “Russian information operation” were CIA contractors when they signed the letter the House Weaponization Subcommittee revealed in a new report Tuesday.
