Today, House Republicans on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees released a joint interim staff report titled, “The Hunter Biden Statement: How Senior Intelligence Community Officials and the Biden Campaign Worked to Mislead American Voters.” Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) is a member of both the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
Based on closed-door testimony and documents provided to the Committees, the report reveals new evidence suggesting that the public statement made by 51 former intelligence officials was part of a political operation to help elect Vice President Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The report also shows that the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) reviewed and approved the statement before its release. Furthermore, evidence suggests that one CIA employee working at the PCRB may have shopped the letter to a former CIA officer who later agreed to add his name to the statement.
BACKGROUND:
On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published a report detailing how Hunter Biden used the position and influence of his father, now-President Joe Biden, for personal gain with the apparent awareness of President Biden. Five days later, on October 19, 2020, 51 former intelligence officials signed on to a public letter that the Hunter Biden laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” in an attempt to discredit the New York Post’s reporting.
Since April 2022 – and renewed earlier this year when Republicans resumed control of the House of Representatives – the Committees have been conducting oversight into the origins of this statement. The Committees wrote to all 51 former officials requesting relevant documents and testimony.
NEW INFORMATION:
On April 5, 2023, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell testified before the Committees that Secretary Blinken, then serving as a senior Biden campaign advisor, was the impetus of the public statement. Documents also revealed that Morell rushed the statement through the PCRB process for Vice President Biden to have a “talking point” to use during the October 22, 2020, presidential debate.
Additionally, evidence suggests that senior Biden campaign officials, including now Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, now Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, and now Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, took active measures to discredit the allegations about Hunter Biden by exploiting the national security credentials of former intelligence officials and coordinated efforts to disseminate the statement with members of the media. Morell’s testimony also exposed that the CIA’s PCRB reviewed and approved the statement before its release.
According to a written statement provided to the Committees by former CIA official David Cariens, the CIA – or at least an employee of the CIA – may have helped in the effort to solicit signatures for the statement. Cariens explained that he spoke with the PCRB in October 2020 regarding the review of his memoir and during that call the CIA employee “asked” him if he would sign the statement.
Consistent with the obligation to keep the House of Representatives apprised of investigative activities, the Committees’ interim report summarizes the key information learned to date.
Read the full interim staff report here.
