Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has been declared a “fraud” after suddenly insisting the letter he signed ahead of the 2020 presidential election that declared Hunter Biden’s laptop story about ‘Russian meddling’ had been “distorted.”
By now, you all know the story.
In a letter signed by 51 intelligence officials released weeks before the election, the authors argued that the laptop story “has all the classic hallmarks of a Russian information operation.”
“If we’re correct, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we strongly believe that Americans need to be aware of that,” they said of the New York Post bombshell story at the time.
“If we’re right.” If you are not sure, then why publish the letter? Has it ever happened to Intel officials dealing with real Intel?
As Biden heads into the second half of his term in the White House, Clapper finally decided to announce that he and other Intel officials had been taken out of context.
Clapper told the Washington Post, “The message was distorted. “All we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian confusion. Politico deliberately distorted what we said.”
James Clapper slams Politico for defacing his infamous letter on Hunter Biden laptop. https://t.co/ISs08nkck5 He insists that, shortly before an election, they were only raising the possibility of Russian meddling in a letter signed by 50 high-ranking… https://t.co/f2aklXfBdj
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 13, 2023
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RELATED: NY Post Slams Intel Officials Who Claimed Hunter’s Laptop Had ‘Russian Distraction’: Biden Desperate To Get Elected
Clapper Claims Hunter Biden’s Laptop Letter Was ‘Mutilated’
Is there any truth to what he is saying?
Politico, which published the letter, accompanied it with a glossy headline: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of ex-Intel officials say.”
They were clearly briefed on the purpose behind the letter.
The narrative was set by the content, confirmed by the headline and thus a fake news was born. These intel officials achieved something Russia could only dream of interfering with the election.
Back to the clapper: If you have a major news outlet that you comment out of context or “deliberately distorted,” what’s the next step?
You call them and demand a fix the next day, right? Surely in a few days. It will probably take you a week or so for it to sink in.
James Clapper waited 847 days to say his comments were defaced.
1. Clapper & Co. Should start with “Sorry, we were wrong”.
2. @Natasha Bertrand The letter exaggerated the claim that the laptop was Russian disinfo. but
3. That’s what they wanted! They did politics to influence an election by falsifying their NatSec credentials https://t.co/lfTIejbTWz
— Cliff Sims (@cliff_sims) February 13, 2023
In fact, the New York Post’s editorial board signed a letter to every person who claimed Hunter Biden had “earmarks” on his laptop — all of them — to apologize in March 2022 to a Russian disinformation campaign. Clapper refused
The post described his comments as two-fold.
“Yes, I stand by the statement made at the time, and will pay attention to paragraph 5 of that,” Clapper said. “I think it was appropriate to sound such a cautionary note at that time.”
But even then he did not say that the letter was mutilated.
‘Detective’ experts refuse to apologize for Hunter Biden story https://t.co/owlkCEqh2c
— Jack Posobik 🇺🇸 (@jacposobik) March 19, 2022
RELATED: Intel official admits they knew Hunter Biden laptop ‘had to be real’ before signing letter downplaying ‘Russian meddling’
Condemned as a hoax
What makes Clapper’s claim on Hunter Biden’s letter even more alarming is that another top intelligence official who signed the infamous letter recently admitted that they all knew the contents of the laptop “had to be real” but chose to sign anyway.
Douglas Wise made this comment in an interview given to The Australian.
“We all thought that a significant portion of that content had to be real for any Russian disinformation to be credible,” the former CIA operations officer admitted, adding a similar caveat that the letter was merely a “cautionary tale.”
Former CIA/DIA operative, ponytailed Dog Wise, one of the 51 signatories to the false letter claiming Russian disinfo contained Hunter Biden’s laptop has now admitted they “all” knew the files “had to be real” but have no regrets. @nypost following@Adam_Creightonhttps://t.co/TjEHf9TAyZ
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadivine) January 17, 2023
See what’s going on here? They’re trying to shift the blame to Politico for creating the narrative, or even to readers who may have drawn apparently objective conclusions.
Coincidentally, this new Clapper denial overlaps with House Republicans now investigating the issue.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed to subpoena intelligence officials behind the letter, to hold them accountable for casting doubt on a legitimate story and effectively censoring it.
Kevin McCarthy vows to subpoena 51 Intel agents who lied about Hunter’s laptop
“The 51 intel agents who signed a letter saying that Hunter Biden’s information was wrong had Russian collusion — many of them have security clearances,” McCarthy said. pic.twitter.com/zDL1l9P2X3
— Ethan Harsell (@ethan_harsell) December 12, 2022
Miranda Devine, a New York Post reporter and author of the book The laptop from hellClapper and Hunter have reason to be upset about Biden’s letter, accusing him of cheating.
His comments, Devine told Fox News, “look at what he’s doing, and he’s worried now that the GOP controls the House and has promised to take the signers and make them testify under oath.”
“He’s trying to pre-shape the narrative.”
“They were silent,” he added. “That was the message they wanted to convey, and now they’re reeling because the GOP House is going to hold them accountable.”
Politico also spoke to The Washington Post and said, contrary to Clapper’s claims, that they “fairly and accurately reported — and summarized — intelligence officials’ letters.”
His efforts to rewrite history two years after the incident should be applauded.
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