Politico ‘Deliberately Distorted’ Letter Flagging Hunter Biden Laptop As Potential Russian Disinfo, Former DNI Says

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The Washington Post reported Monday that James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, accused Politico “distorting” a letter he signed with dozens of other former national security officials regarding a laptop left by Hunter Biden at a Delaware repair shop. The letter claimed it was possible Russian disinformation.

Politico’s October 2020 Report, headlined “Hunter Biden Story is Russian Disinfo, dozens former intel officials claim”, cited Clapper’s letter that claimed the laptop was “all the classic earmarks” of a Russian Information Opera.

Clapper stated to the Post that all they did was raise a yellow flag suggesting Russian disinformation. “Politico intentionally distorted what I said. It was obvious in paragraph five.”

“We want you to know that we don’t know if the emails that Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, sent to the New York Post are authentic or fake and that we don’t have any evidence of Russian involvement,” the letter stated.

John Paul Mac Isaac, who was the owner of the repair shop sued Politico and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff from California for defamation.

According to the Post, Politico stated that its article regarding Clapper’s claim about the laptop “fairly and accurately” reported the contents of Clapper’s letter.

After the Oct. 14, 2020 New York Post investigation into the contents of the laptop and email correspondence, the letter was published. Twitter locked multiple accounts including that of Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, for sharing the story.

In October 2020, the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed that one of the emails was authentic. The authenticity of the data was confirmed by The Washington Post, New York Times and The Washington Post in March 2022 in articles relating to investigations into Biden conducted by the Department of Justice.

Thursday’s hearing was held by the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Warirization of the Federal Govt, which is part of the House Judiciary Committee. It focused on the censorship. Elon Musk has released documents to Michael Shellenberger, a journalist. They show that the FBI reached out to Twitter to inquire about potential leaks in Hunter Biden’s story before the New York Post report.

Clapper was accused of lying to Congress regarding the NSA’s mass surveillance programme during March 2013, testimony. This was later contradicted two months later by Edward Snowden’s classified documents. In 2017, the House Intelligence Committee published a report that claimed Clapper gave “inconsistent testimony” regarding his contacts with the media during his time as DNI.