DAILY WIRE
A retired CIA official is opening up about why he did not sign a letter that suggested the Hunter Biden laptop story could be part of a Russian disinformation operation just weeks before the 2020 election.
Dan Hoffman, the CIA’s former Moscow station chief, told Fox News he was “surprised” that no one requested his Russia expertise in discussing the letter before it went public and explained why he did not want his signature attached to it.
“I remember I got the letter, October 18, 2020, and at first glance, it seemed natural to lay the blame at the Kremlin’s doorstep. Remember, Vladimir Putin is in the Kremlin and he’s well known for cloak-and-dagger espionage operations,” Hoffman said. “But at the same time, there was no evidence and the letter noted there was no evidence. And I just felt like we needed to do the forensics. It was a very convoluted story.”
Spencer Brown on X (formerly Twitter): “After revealing that he was among the group of former officials asked to sign a now-infamous letter saying Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation, Dan Hoffman explains why he didn’t. pic.twitter.com/bFO5sbQhJx / X”
After revealing that he was among the group of former officials asked to sign a now-infamous letter saying Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation, Dan Hoffman explains why he didn’t. pic.twitter.com/bFO5sbQhJx
The letter, released on October 19, 2020, with the signatures of 51 former intelligence officials, said the alleged laptop contents have “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” but it also stressed the signees did not know if emails being reported at the time were genuine and insisted they had no evidence of Russian involvement.
After POLITICO, the news outlet that first reported the statement, published a headline that said the former intelligence officials were claiming the story was “Russian disinfo,” then-candidate Joe Biden, Hunter’s father, used the letter to cast doubt on the laptop story during one of his debates with then-President Donald Trump weeks before the election.
Yet over the past two years, many of the laptop’s contents — revealing details about Biden’s personal life and business dealings — have been analyzed and shown to be authentic. One of the letter’s most prominent signees, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in February accused POLITICO of “deliberately” misrepresenting its message. POLITICO defended its reporting about the letter.
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