Agents who falsely claimed Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation were on CIA payroll at the time
By isabelle // 2024-06-30
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One story that stands out among the many painfully obvious examples of election interference and government collusion with social media is the Hunter Biden laptop story, and a new report exposes the role that active CIA agents played in this outrageous turn of events. The drama initially unfolded in 2020, just three weeks before the election, when the New York Post published a story on its front page based on the contents of a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden that was left at a repair shop. The story was a disaster for the Biden campaign, revealing the influence peddling activities that then-Vice President Joe Biden engaged in with his son that earned them generous profits, along with videos showing Hunter smoking crack cocaine and having sex with prostitutes. The Biden campaign pulled a lot of strings to censor the story and ensure it couldn't be shared on social media, and a congressional report now shows how the CIA collaborated with them to wave off the story as “Russian disinformation.” In fact, 51 CIA contractors signed a statement at the time claiming that the reporting had all the telltale signs of being part of a Russian disinformation campaign, and this was often cited by the media as it doubled down on claims the laptop story wasn’t real. It has since been proven to be 100% real – so real, in fact, that it was used as evidence in federal prosecutors’ case against Hunter for lying on a firearms application about his drug use, and an FBI agent testified the messages and photos on it confirmed he had been using drugs. The 51 cosigners of the letter are now often referred to as the “Spies Who Lie,” and it turns out they were on the CIA payroll when they did so. Thanks to the House Judiciary report, we now know that high-ranking officials with the CIA, including Gina Haspel, who was the director of the agency at the time, knew about the statement before it was approved and published. This means they could have taken the time to review it and make sure it was properly vetted – something they should presumably be quite good at – but failed to do so. In addition, some of the CIA agents who signed the statement were working on active CIA contracts at the time. This flies in the face of claims by the signatories that they did not have access to classified information at the time and the claim in the letter itself that they were all “former” officeholders. These include former CIA acting director Michael Morell, former CIA Inspector General David Buckley, and possibly others, while some of those who signed the statement still had special “Green Card” access to secure CIA facilities. Although the federal Hatch Act prevents most CIA employees from political partisan activity, it is less clear how this applies to contractors. Either way, it’s not a good look for the CIA.

CIA employees were unhappy about the letter

After the statement was published, the report recounted how some CIA employees were unhappy about it, sharing concerns internally about how political it was. One said it was not “helpful to the Agency in the long run.” The media talking points submitted by former Senior Intelligence Service Officer Marc Polymeropoulos, the co-author of the statement, were another topic of discussion, with one CIA official asserting: “It appears [Polymeropoulos] is actively involved in a pro-Biden campaign and may be disclosing classified information in his efforts.” In fact, an internal review by the CIA concluded that there was classified information in the talking points that needed to be removed prior to publication. Their efforts could well have helped Biden secure the presidency. A TIPP Insights poll from 2022 found that 71 percent of Americans think that more truthful reporting of the laptop and its contents could have influenced the election. The letter was even cited by Biden at the second and final presidential debate that year when he falsely claimed the report was fake. Referring to Trump, Biden said: “There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant. Five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage.” Sources for this article include: GreatGameIndia.com Judiciary.House.gov
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