(HorizonPost.com) – The House Intelligence Committee’s subcommittee investigating the weaponization of government last week released a report with new information that details how some of the highest officials in the Central Intelligence Agency were informed in advance about the letter signed by 51 former intel officials that claimed that report on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop had the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.
According to the June 25 joint interim staff report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, high-ranking CIA officials, including former Trump CIA Director Gina Haspel, were informed about the letter initially circulated by then-Biden campaign advisor Antony Blinken after the story of Hunter Biden’s abandon laptop was first reported in October 2020.
The report highlights new details, including how some of the intel officials who signed the letter were still under contract with the CIA at the time, including former Deputy Director Michael Morrell.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner said in a statement that the ongoing investigation had turned up “solid direct evidence” that the 51 former officials who signed the letter were coordinating with the Biden campaign “to cast doubt” on the reporting about Hunter’s abandoned laptop by falsely labeling it Russian disinformation.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan said the interim report reveals how high-ranking CIA officials had been aware of the letter and knew that several of the purported “former” intelligence officials named on the letter “were on active contract with the CIA.”
According to the report, the CIA officials who were aware of the letter before its release included CIA Chief Operating Officer Andrew Makridis who testified before the select subcommittee that he informed Director Haspel or Deputy Director Vaughn Bishop about the letter’s impending release.
Despite the signatories attesting that they lacked access to classified information, at least two of them, Morell and former CIA Inspector General David Buckley, were still under contract with the CIA at the time.
The select committee’s press release accused the signatories of leveraging their former positions within the intelligence community to “promote a narrative about foreign election interference” that “improperly embroiled” the CIA in domestic politics.
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