CIA Sued Over Alleged Involvement in Discrediting Hunter Biden Laptop and Producing the 'Dirty 51' Intel Letter
The 'Dirty 51' letter, signed just before the 2020 presidential election, has become a subject of controversy.
Aug. 20 2023, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is facing a lawsuit for its alleged role in crafting a letter signed by 51 intelligence officials that aimed to discredit Hunter Biden's laptop as Russian disinformation, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The CIA are being sued for its alleged role in crafting a letter signed by 51 intelligence officials.
The "Dirty 51" letter, signed just before the 2020 presidential election, has become a subject of controversy, with a Republican report suggesting that it was a political operation to help elect Joe Biden.
Government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the agency failed to provide requested documents related to the internal crafting of the letter.
The Prepublication Classification Review referred to the CIA Hunter Biden letter as a "rush job."
According to the Republican report obtained by the Daily Mail, the CIA was actively involved in obtaining signatures for the letter, which was seen as an effort to undermine concerns about Hunter's laptop.
The report accuses former Deputy CIA director and acting CIA Director, Mike Morell, as well as the Biden campaign, of conspiring to approve the letter.
One signer of the statement, former CIA analyst , revealed that a CIA employee affiliated with the agency's Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) informed him about the statement and asked him to sign it. Cariens agreed to sign, indicating the potential involvement of CIA employees in soliciting signatures for the letter.
Government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit against the CIA.
The report further alleges that Morell sent the final version of the letter to the Prepublication Classification Review on October 19, 2020, referring to it as a "rush job" to hasten its approval.
The report also includes emails between Morell and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who expressed his intention to sign the letter and suggested rephrasing a particular phrase to convey the "classic earmarks of a Soviet/Russian information operation."
Morell testified before the House Judiciary Committee that a call with current Secretary of State Antony Blinken on October 17 had triggered his interest in coordinating the letter. However, at the time, Blinken was not the Secretary of State but a Biden campaign adviser.
Hunter Biden is currently involved in several investigations.
The significance of the letter lies in its use during the 2020 election campaign.
Joe cited it during a debate with then-President Donald Trump on October 22 to deflect scrutiny of his son's alleged foreign influence peddling schemes. However, the then-Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, asserted that the laptop was not part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
The Republican report also details how the CIA collaborated with the Biden campaign to disseminate the letter to the media. Former CIA senior adviser Nick Shapiro drafted a media pitch and sent it to various outlets, including Politico, which ultimately published the initial story.
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Current White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, who was serving as the Biden campaign rapid response director at the time, was included in the emails discussing the media push.
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