Blinken Denies Role in Hunter Biden Laptop Russian Disinfo Letter

Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied Monday he was behind a 2020 statement signed by 51 current and former intelligence officials that discredited a report by The New York Post about Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation.

Michael Morell, a former Deputy Director of the CIA and one of the 51 signatories of the public statement, told the House Judiciary Committee in a recent deposition that on or around Oct. 17, 2020, Blinken, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, reached out to him to discuss the laptop story. Morell said although the outreach was couched as gathering Morell’s reaction to The Post’s story, it set in motion the events that led to the public statement being issued five days after The Post’s story broke.

“One of the great benefits of this job is that I don’t do politics and don’t engage in it,” Blinken told Fox News. “But with regard to that letter, I didn’t — it wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it. And I think the testimony that the former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morrell, put forward confirms that.”

During the final 2020 presidential debate with Donald Trump, Biden claimed the Post’s story was Russian disinformation and used the statement to back up his argument when confronted about The Post’s report by Trump. The statement also gave the mainstream media and social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook an excuse to suppress the Post’s story.

Blinken was asked whether he still thinks the story was Russian disinformation, even though the validity of the laptop has been confirmed by several news outlets, including The New York Times and Washington Post.

“Again, from my perspective, I’m not engaging in politics,” Blinken said. “I have got a lot on my agenda.”

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Blinken on April 20 demanding documents and communications related to the committees’ investigation.

They want Blinken to identify all people with whom he communicated about the inception, drafting, editing, signing, publishing, or promotion of the “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails” dated Oct. 19, 2020, during the period Oct. 14 to Nov. 24, 2020; and produce all documents and communications referring or relating to the statement sent or received between Oct. 14 and Nov. 24, 2020. They gave Blinken until Thursday to comply.