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Blinken denies he’s behind infamous letter claiming Hunter laptop was Russian disinfo, then deflects

May 2, 2023 | | Print Article

Secretary of State Antony Blinken proclaimed his innocence on Fox News Monday, denying that he orchestrated the now-infamous letter from 51 intelligence officials in October of 2020 that claimed the Hunter Biden laptop was most likely Russian disinformation.

“One of the great benefits of this job is that I don’t do politics, don’t engage in it,” the secretary of state disingenuously claimed.

“But with regard to that letter – it wasn’t my idea, I didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it,” Blinken told Fox News in what appeared to be a very careful parsing of words.

At the time Blinken is accused of pushing the letter, he was candidate Joe Biden’s campaign adviser. The laptop surfaced just weeks before the 2020 presidential election and the letter claimed that the abandoned laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Biden touted the letter from the intelligence officials to discredit the laptop and help him win the election.

Former Deputy Director of the CIA Michael Morell testified before the House Judiciary Committee that an Oct. 17 call with Blinken had “absolutely” triggered his interest in orchestrating the letter.

When Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall asked Blinken point blank if he accepted the laptop’s legitimacy after most major news organizations verified it, he replied that he wouldn’t talk politics and indicated he was too busy to bother with the issue.

“I’m not engaging in politics. I’ve got a lot on my agenda. Some things that we just talked about, trying to help the Russian aggression against engaging with our allies, partners around the world and dealing with some of the challenges posed by China. We have a situation now in Sudan, this has fully occupied my time,” Blinken declared.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and House Intel Chair Mike Turner fired off a letter to Blinken last week telling him that they were scrutinizing the letter.

“As part of our oversight, we have learned that you played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor, and we, therefore, request your assistance with our oversight,” the letter informed him.

Both Jordan and Turner told Blinken that “according to Morell, although your outreach was couched as simply gathering Morell’s reaction to the story, it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement.”

It was not lost on Jordan that on the very same day that Blinken and Morell had a call, the now-secretary of state emailed the former CIA operative an article saying the FBI was examining whether the laptop was part of a disinformation campaign.

“One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue,” Morell asserted. “And, two, it was to help Vice President Biden.”

“You wanted to help the vice president why?” Jordan asked Morell.

Morell responded, “Because I wanted him to win the election.”

The former CIA spook claimed that he was assisted by Marc Polymeropoulos in soliciting intel leaders to cast doubt on the laptop. Other former CIA directors, including John Brennan and Leon Panetta, also signed on to the document.

“Although the statement’s signatories have an unquestioned right to free speech and free association — which we do not dispute — their reference to their national security credentials lent weight to the story and suggested access to specialized information unavailable to other Americans,” Turner and Jordan wrote in the letter.

Emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop indicated that Blinken and his wife Evan Ryan have known him for a long time. On multiple occasions, Hunter reportedly forwarded communications about setting up meetings with Blinken to fellow board members of Burisma. Blinken and Hunter Biden met at the State Department in 2015 while Hunter was on the board of Burisma.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Republican Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley evidently believe Secretary of State Antony Blinken may have lied to Congress about his knowledge of Hunter Biden’s position at Burisma as well, according to the New York Post.

In a letter, the senators wrote that emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop as well as other records cast doubt on Blinken’s claim that he knew nothing about Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board. They actually point toward Blinken “trying to connect” with Burisma’s US lobbyists.

“Your statement to Congress that you did not email Hunter Biden is clearly not true and calls into question the veracity of your entire December 22, 2020 testimony,” Johnson (R-WI) and Grassley (R-IA) wrote to Blinken on Tuesday morning. “Specifically, you denied having any awareness of Hunter Biden’s association with the corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.”

Blinken, who was a deputy national security adviser when Hunter Biden joined Burisma’s board in 2014 and then deputy secretary of state for the final two years of the Obama-Biden administration, said in a Dec. 22, 2020, Senate deposition that he had no idea the then-vice president’s son had secured the Burisma post.

“During your time as deputy secretary of state, were you aware of any association that Hunter Biden had with Burisma?” Blinken was asked during the deposition.

“I was not,” Blinken answered.

“You were not aware that Hunter Biden served on Burisma’s board?” he was pressed.

“To the best of my recollection, I was not,” Blinken replied.

Grassley and Johnson evidently don’t believe Blinken’s claims.

“Although you denied having any knowledge that Hunter Biden was associated with Burisma, emails reportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal that your wife, Evan Ryan… corresponded directly with Hunter Biden (from her personal email address) in an apparent attempt to connect you with representatives of Burisma’s US lobbying firm, Blue Star Strategies,” the senators wrote in the letter.

“In an apparent email exchange on July 14, 2016, Hunter Biden told Ryan that ‘S’ and ‘K’ told him that they called the State Department and left a message. ‘S’ and ‘K’ appear to be Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano, Blue Star Strategies’ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. Ryan wrote to Biden, ‘He didn’t get the msg. He said if we can get him their numbers he can call them late afternoon DC time tmrw — let me know if that works[.]’” the letter continued.

“Although this email exchange did not reference you by name, State Department documents obtained during our investigation make it clear that you were concurrently trying to connect with representatives from Blue Star Strategies,” the senators charged.

They weren’t finished with Blinken and continued to rip into him.

“Another reported email from Hunter Biden’s laptop shows that on July 15, 2016, an individual from Hunter Biden’s firm instructed him and his business associate, Eric Schwerin, to ‘please call Evan Ryan . . . Hunter – she tried your cell earlier and it went straight to vm[.]’ You told congressional investigators that you did not meet with Tramontano or Painter during this time period. When asked if either of them informed you that they were representing Burisma, you said, ‘To the best of my recollection, no,’” they wrote.

“It seems highly unlikely that you had no idea of Hunter Biden’s association with Burisma while your wife was apparently coordinating with Hunter Biden to potentially connect you with Burisma’s US representatives,” the senators stated.

“The public recently learned through congressional testimony from former CIA official Michael Morell, that you allegedly were the catalyst of an October 2020 information operation aimed to deceive Americans about the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop. It is now evident that your apparent willingness to deceive the public continued through December 2020 when you failed to tell the whole truth to congressional investigators about your contacts with Hunter Biden,” they stated.

“Because your testimony is inaccurate, Congress and the public must rely on your records as the source for information about your dealings with Hunter Biden,” the senators concluded.

Blinken’s Sergeant Schultz defense did not impress people on Twitter:

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