by Debra Heine
The highest officials within the CIA signed off on the politically-charged public statement released by 51 former intelligence officials weeks before the 2020 election, newly obtained internal CIA emails and testimonial evidence show.
The signatories, some of whom were on the CIA payroll at the time, had asserted that the vile and incriminating contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the hallmarks” of Russian disinformation. Both the Biden campaign and the corporate media used the bogus statement to blunt a potentially explosive scandal that could have ended Biden’s bid for the presidency, if reported on accurately.
According to a new report released by the Republican-led Committee on the Judiciary, its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the CIA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Andrew Makridis (pictured above) testified that he informed Director Gina Haspel or Deputy Director Vaughn Frederick Bishop about the impending release of the politically-charged missive.
“Senior CIA leadership had an opportunity at that time to slow down the CIA’s process for reviewing publication submissions and ensure that such an extraordinary statement was properly vetted,” the report attests.
In a statement Wednesday, the chair of the House Republican Conference, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said the CIA should have known that the now-discredited statement lacked validity.
“This sequence of events suggests that senior CIA leadership had ample opportunity to assess the validity of the statement’s claims,” Stefanik said. “Furthermore, the COO’s office appeared to signal approval of the statement in a move that departed from standard Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) protocols.”
According to the Committees, the signatories claimed throughout the course of their investigation that they had based their assertions on their experience as intel professionals and did not have access to classified information.
Those assertions turned out to be not entirely accurate, according to Committee Republicans.
“Despite claiming they lacked access to classified information at the time, at least two signatories—Michael Morell and former CIA Inspector General David Buckley—were actively working for the CIA as contractors,” Stefanik noted. “This revelation raises concerns that these officials may have abused their positions to expedite the statement’s approval and may have been earning taxpayer dollars while they did it.”
“Some of the signatories of the statement were on the CIA payroll at the time as contractors and others had special access to CIA facilities,” the report states. Even Michael Morell—before the Committees learned of his contract with the CIA—acknowledged, ‘It’s inappropriate for a currently serving staff officer or contractor to be involved in the political process.’”
GOP lawmakers assert that “the Hunter Biden statement was a blatant political operation from the start.”
“It originated with a call from top Biden campaign official—and now Secretary of State—Antony Blinken to former Deputy Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Michael Morell. The Committees’ investigation revealed that without this outreach from Blinken, Morell would not have written the statement.”
Although Morell denied that the Biden campaign specifically asked that he prepare a statement, former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos, who helped to prepare the initial draft of the statement, told the Committees last year that Morell “did mention to me that someone in the kind of Biden world had asked about doing this.” When asked to elaborate, Polymeropoulos testified: “Morell said that to me, that someone from kind of the Biden world had asked for this. And he did not tell me who it was or any of the other kind of details of it.”
Polymeropoulos testified that he didn’t know about Morell’s call with Blinken until the Committees told him about it.
At least one employee found it “[i]nteresting to see what was submitted and approved” regarding Polymeropoulos’ media talking points on the statement. Another CIA official stated, “It appears [Polymeropoulos] is actively involved in a pro-Biden campaign and may be disclosing classified information in his efforts.”
The CIA’s internal review board, known as the Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB), determined that Polymeropoulos’s talking points contained classified information that had to be removed prior to publication.
Some officials within the CIA reportedly recognized that the Hunter Biden statement was political and would hurt the Agency.
After its publication on October 19, 2020, CIA employees internally expressed concern that the statement was political in nature, and not “helpful to the Agency in the long run,” according to the report.
“The infamous Hunter Biden statement had all the hallmarks of an intelligence community influence operation,” the GOP lawmakers declared. “But rather than carrying it out against our adversaries on foreign soil, this operation was directed at the American people and our democratic processes.”
The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday released the transcripts of their interviews with the intel officials who signed the discredited statement:
🚨 #NEWS: Judiciary Committee Releases Transcripts of Intelligence Officials Who Discredited Hunter Biden Story
John Brennan transcript: https://t.co/ghmbJ9tW7c
James Clapper transcript: https://t.co/qrObFQywvv
Andrew Makridis transcript: https://t.co/y8nrg0wKuL
Michael…
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) June 27, 2024
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Debra Heine is a conservative Catholic mom of six and longtime political pundit. She has written for several conservative news websites over the years, including Breitbart and PJ Media.
Photo “Former CIA COO Andrew Makridis” by Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.
