Trump Yanks Security Clearances Of Intel Officials Who Spread Disinformation About Hunter Biden’s Laptop
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday night revoking the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who falsely claimed emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop were Russian “disinformation” to help Joe Biden’s 2020 election prospects. The directive also pulls the security clearance of John Bolton, who served as national security advisor in Trump’s first term.
“To remedy these abuses of the public trust, this Order directs the revocation of any active or current security clearances held by: (i) the former intelligence officials who engaged in misleading and inappropriate political coordination with the 2020 Biden presidential campaign; and (ii) John R. Bolton,” the order reads.
The infamous Oct. 19, 2020, letter included signatures from dozens of former intel officials who baselessly contended the emails from Hunter’s laptop that were reported by the New York Post weeks before the 2020 contest bore “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Biden then weaponized the phony statement during his Oct. 22, 2020, debate against Trump to dispel the latter’s criticisms of the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.
Former CIA Directors John Brennan and Leon Panetta and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were among those to sign the letter.
Under Monday’s edict, the directors of National Intelligence and the CIA are ordered to submit a report within 90 days to Trump that includes “any additional inappropriate activity that occurred within the Intelligence Community, by anyone contracted by the Intelligence Community or by anyone who held a security clearance, related to the letter signed by the 51 former intelligence officials.”
This report must also detail any and all “recommendations to prevent the Intelligence Community or anyone who works for or within it from inappropriately influencing domestic elections” and “any disciplinary action — including the termination of security clearances — that should be taken against anyone who engaged in inappropriate conduct related to the letter signed by the 51 former intelligence officials.”
Congressional investigations into the infamous letter and its signatories in the years since the 2020 election have revealed that these intel officials did not act alone in attempting to delegitimize the New York Post’s findings on the Biden family.
In April 2023, House Republicans released testimony from Michael Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA who signed onto the letter, revealing that “on or around October 17, 2020,” Antony Blinken, a then-Biden campaign official who later became secretary of state, “reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story,” which the Post published on Oct. 14.
According to Morell, Blinken’s outreach “set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement” that baselessly asserted the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. When pressed by House investigators if he had any intent to write the statement prior to Blinken’s call, Morell said he “did not,” confirming the call “absolutely” pushed him to write it.
Morell also affirmed in his congressional testimony that there were two motives for releasing the statement, one being for former intel officials to share their alleged “concern[s] with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue.” The other was to “help Vice President Biden.”
“You wanted to help the vice president, why?” asked Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to which Morell replied, “Because I wanted him to win the election.”
An email included in a February 2024 lawsuit filed by America First Legal shows Morell soliciting signatures from intel officials prior to the letter’s release, confirming The Federalist’s reporting about the CIA’s heavy-handed role in its development.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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