CIA fast-tracked letter that falsely suggested Hunter Biden laptop was Russia op
The CIA conspired with former acting director Mike Morell and the Biden campaign to produce a letter falsely claiming that emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop were Russian disinformation — and solicited signatures from at least one former intelligence official, a staff report from the House Judiciary Committee is expected to reveal Wednesday.
Morell told the CIA’s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) that he needed the letter approved as an unusual “rush job” that day, October 19, 2020, in an effort to provide then-candidate Joe Biden ammunition in the final presidential debate to discredit The Post’s report on the Biden emails which had been published five days earlier.
That day, a CIA employee working for the PCRB solicited a signature for Morell’s letter from former CIA analyst David Cariens, according to a written statement by Cariens to the Subcommittees on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and Intelligence.
Cariens explained that he had been speaking with the PCRB about the prepublication review of his own memoir and during that phone call the CIA employee “asked” him if he would sign the draft letter.
“When the person in charge of reviewing my book called to say it was approved with no changes, I was told about the draft letter. The person asked me if I would be willing to sign . . . I agreed to sign.”
Cariens told his wife, Janice Cariens, also a former CIA officer, about the letter and she also agreed to sign.
Morell directed the PCRB that “[t]his is a rush job, as it needs to get out as soon as possible.”
Morell told fellow signatory John Brennan, former CIA director, that he wanted the letter released before Biden’s October 22, 2020, presidential debate against Donald Trump: “Trying to give the campaign, particularly during the debate . . .a talking point to push back on Trump.”
Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA Acting Chief of Operations for Europe and Eurasia, congratulated Morell on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 2020, for securing the PCRB’s lightning-fast approval of the letter.
“You have some juice”, he texted.
“With the PRB [PCRB]?” asks Morell.
“Yes, ha,” replies Polymeropoulos.
“Ha is right,” texted Morell. “They are probably scared I am coming back.”
At the time Morell was widely tipped to be CIA director if Biden were elected. But his hopes were dashed when he was not nominated for the position.
It has been revealed previously that Morell was prompted to draft the letter by Biden campaign advisor Antony Blinken, now Secretary of State, who called him on Oct. 17, 2020 to discuss the Post’s article about the laptop.
Morell told Blinken that he was not familiar with the article and Blinken later that night forwarded him a USA Today story alleging that the FBI was investigating whether it was Russian disinformation.
Morell testified that he had no intention of drafting the statement until Blinken reached out to him.
In sworn testimony to the committees, Morell said the PCRB consists of CIA officers, “not contractors,” and their sole function is to determine whether former and current CIA personnel are disclosing classified information in any materials they may release publicly.
