Two former top intelligence officials will soon testify before the House Judiciary Committee’s weaponization of the federal government concerning a statement they signed in 2020 denying the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Former CIA Director John Brennan and ex-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper will appear before the committee in private interviews. Brennan will testify on May 11, 2023, while Clapper will testify on May 17, 2023.
Former CIA Director John Brennan and former DNI James Clapper are scheduled to testify before a Congressional panel this month as Republicans investigate efforts to discredit the #HunterBidenLaptop story right before the 2020 election. https://t.co/v3PsAiyzcD
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) May 5, 2023
Brennan and Clapper were the prominent signatories on the statement that 51 former intelligence officials issued in October 2020, casting doubt on the laptop story regarding Hunter and his father, President Joe Biden.
The New York Post’s story, written by now-Breitbart News Political Editor Emma-Jo Morris, revealed incriminating information about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings based on information found on Hunter’s abandoned laptop.
The story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” Brennan, Clapper, and 49 ex-intelligence officials wrote at the time, knowing they had no evidence to support their belief.
Brennan and Clapper’s forthcoming testimonies follow another signatory of their statement, former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell, who testified in April 2023 before the committee that now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken had suggested Morell and others write the statement.
At the time, Blinken was a paid senior adviser to the Biden presidential campaign. Biden relied on the misleading statement in a presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.
“Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this [President Trump’s] accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said this — this has all the characteristics — four — five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage,” Biden said during the 2020 debates.
“Nobody believes it except him and his good friend Rudy Giuliani,” Biden added.
Biden’s remarks came after Politico reported on the letter in an article titled, “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”
Clapper complained about the Politico headline, arguing it distorted what he and the 50 other officials said.
“There was message distortion,” Clapper said. “All we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian disinformation. Politico deliberately distorted what we said.”
The testimonies will take place in the form of behind-closed-door transcribed interviews, which both Republican and Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee can attend.
