President Biden’s deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates was involved in efforts to discredit Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation in the 2020 presidential election, emails show published Wednesday by the Republicans of the House Oversight Committee.
According to the House Republicans Oversight Committee report on Wednesday, former CIA senior adviser Nick Shapiro wrote a media pitch for the now-discredited letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials who tried to paint the picture. laptop at the center of the New York Post’s bomb story as a Russian operation in October 2020.
“I’m giving this to you exclusively first if you want to run with it,” Shapiro wrote in his media address, according to the October 19, 2020 email. “You may also use this on the record of me Nick Shapiro, describing what it is: “A large group of former career intelligence officers, many of whom specialize in Russia, joined by a group of former intelligence community leaders, all say they believe the Russians were involved in one way or another here.”
“‘The ICE leaders who signed this letter have worked for the past four presidents, including Trump,'” Shapiro’s statement continued. “”The real power here, however, is the sheer number of former frost-level officers, who have convinced the American people to know that the Russians are once again interfering. “”
US President Joe Biden’s sister Valerie Biden (right) and son Hunter Biden (left) board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 11, 2023. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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According to the GOP report, Shapiro sent the letter to The Associated Press, The Washington Post and Politico. He then forwarded the letter to Bates from the Biden campaign, adding, “That’s what I gave them.”
Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates (R) speaks as Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young (C) and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Cecilia Rouse (L) listen during a press briefing in the Brady Room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 28, 2022. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
Politico ended up publishing the letter the next day, two weeks before the election.
“Hunter Biden story is Russian disinformation, say dozens of former intelligence officials,” Bates tweeted, sharing the story with Politico.
“Hunter Biden story is Russian disinformation, say dozens of former intelligence officials,” tweeted Jen Psaki, who later became Biden’s White House press secretary.
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“If we see tonight from Donald Trump these attacks on Vice President Biden’s family, I think we need to be very, very clear that what he’s doing here is amplifying Russian disinformation,” he said. said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager who later served as White’s house communications director.
Indeed, Biden brought up the letter during his final debate against former President Donald Trump, saying the laptop was a “Russian factory” and a “heap of garbage.”
“There are 50 former national intelligence people who said what he is accusing me of is a Russian factory,” Biden said at the time. “…Five former CIA chiefs, from both parties, say what he says is a bunch of garbage. No one believes him except his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”
Biden still pushed the Russian theory in December, telling Fox News’ Peter Doocy, “Yes, yes, yes,” when asked if he thought the laptop was Russian disinformation.
The White House and Shapiro did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House April 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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The New York Post was the first to report on the laptop just three weeks before the 2020 presidential election, leading to widespread censorship of the article on social media platforms, including Twitter, which worked in close collaboration with the FBI at the time, Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” showed.
Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell testified before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees last month that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as President Biden’s senior campaign adviser, “had played a role in creating” the letter signed by intelligence officials seeking to discredit the story.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Hunter Biden (Getty Images)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Blinken saying, “Based on Morell’s testimony , it is evident that the Biden campaign played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a decision with full confidence. knowingly in the 2020 presidential election.”
Morell also said he received a call from Biden’s White House adviser Steve Ricchetti, who was then 2020 campaign chairman, following the Oct. 22 debate. Morell said the call was to thank him for leading the letter.
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Flanked by House Republicans, U.S. Representative James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on November 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
House watchdog Republicans held a press conference on Wednesday revealing that the Biden family and their business associates had started more than 20 businesses and received more than $10 million from foreign nationals, including in China and Romania, while that Joe Biden was vice president, and that some of these payments could indicate attempts by the Biden family to “peddle influence.”
The committee says it is investigating “the opaque corporate structure of some Biden-affiliated companies, the complicated ties these companies have to each other, whether these companies kept books and records, and why some foreign nationals have sought to s ‘Associating and engaging in businesses with members of the Biden family and their businesses.’
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The White House called the committee’s investigation “evidenceless” and “politically motivated.” The White House has also maintained that President Biden was never involved in his son’s business dealings.
