The CIA’s Bud Light Moment

Or something far worse

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From left: Former CIA acting director Michael Morell at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in 2019; Then-director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies on Capitol Hill in 2016; Then-CIA Director John Brennan testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2016.

Joshua Roberts, Kevin Lamarque, Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Americans have every reason to be angry about the successive revelations concerning the notorious 51 former intelligence officials behind 2020’s “Russian disinformation” letter, a statement shepherded by three former CIA directors and drafted by former acting CIA director Michael Morell. The letter assessed that the damning emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop were not actual evidence of Biden family corruption, but a Russian information operation to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor. That assessment has long since been thoroughly debunked, not least by Biden fils himself.

Congress revealed in mid-May that, far from being the work of astute intelligence professionals acting as concerned citizens, the letter was suborned by Antony Blinken, at the time working for the Biden campaign. Blinken nudged Morell to draft the letter, and Morell was quick to enlist former CIA director John Brennan and others. This was itself a covert action to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor.

PT

About the Author

Peter Theroux

Peter Theroux is a translator and writer in suburban Los Angeles. After more than 20 years in the U.S. government, he was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal.

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