Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had a short reply when he was asked by Fox News if he regrets signing the intelligence officials’ letter in 2020 that labeled the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation.
Clapper, along with 50 other former senior intelligence officials, signed the letter in October 2020 — just weeks before the presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden — saying the New York Post story that exposed emails from Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell” had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Since that letter, Hunter Biden’s laptop has been confirmed as authentic by multiple media outlets and the Department of Justice. The laptop was also confirmed as real during Hunter’s ongoing gun trial earlier this week when the prosecution shared images from the laptop and Hunter’s iCloud account that showed him nude and holding crack pipes.
When Clapper was asked if he regretted adding his name to the intelligence officials’ letter, he simply replied, “No,” Fox News reported. He also refused to publicly remove his name from the letter.
Hunter’s laptop contained evidence that the first son introduced the commander-in-chief to a Ukrainian businessman less than a year before then-Vice President Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian government officials to fire a prosecutor investigating the businessman’s company. Hunter had been hired to the board of a Ukrainian energy firm a year before Joe Biden’s meeting with the Ukrainian businessman.
Clapper, and dozens of other former intelligence officials, wrote of the Hunter Biden laptop story, “If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this.”
The letter was covered in a report by POLITICO that was published on October 19, 2020, and Biden referred to the letter in a debate with Trump three days later when Hunter’s laptop and foreign business dealings were brought up. Biden went on to win the 2020 election just two weeks later, but it would be another three years before the “Russian disinformation” claims put forth by the former intelligence officials were debunked by the DOJ.
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Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings — along with his father’s alleged involvement in them when he was vice president — have been the center of a months-long impeachment inquiry led by House Republicans.
Earlier this week, House Republicans referred Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James Biden, for criminal prosecution for allegedly lying while testifying as part of the corruption-focused impeachment inquiry into the president.
Ashe Schow contributed to this report.
