John Brennan in the Oval Office, Jan. 4, 2010. (Pete Souza, White House photographer)
Supporters of Joe Biden's campaign have made much of a letter signed by 50 former intelligence officials declaring that the Hunter Biden email story "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian disinformation operation."
However, the signatories, including former Obama officials who peddled the now-debunked Trump-Russia collusion claim, admit they don't know whether or not the emails initially reported by the New York Post are authentic, and they have no evidence of Russian involvement.
They base their case, instead, on four disputable points: that the Russians want Trump to win, it's consisent with the Russian tactic of hacking emails, the Russians hacked Burisma emails last year, and the Washington Post reports U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence."
Some critics of the Hunter Biden story have argued that if true, it's only about the Democratic nominee's beleagured son. But the emails indicate Joe Biden was selling U.S. foreign policy through his son and keeping a cut of the profits.
The former intelligence officials, including Obama CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, also point to a reported FBI investigation into possible Russian influence through Giuliani.
"We do not know whether these press reports are accurate, but they do suggest concern within Executive Branch departments and agencies that mirrors ours," they conclude. "It is high time that Russia stops interfering in our democracy."
However, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has declared that U.S. intelligence agencies have no evidence of Russian influence in the Hunter Biden email story.
Further, the only direct evidence presented to the public confirms, among other things, that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden; that it was dropped off for repair at a Wilmington, Delaware shop; that the shop owner turned it over to the FBI; and that Hunter Biden's lawyer asked for it to be returned.
Further, Fox News reported that people in the email chains that have been published confirm their authenticity.
Significantly, the Biden campaign has not challenged the authenticity of the emails.
After Twitter and Facebook censored the Post's intial story on Wednesday, Biden was confront with it for the first time Friday at the Detroit airport.
On the tarmac, CBS reporter Bo Erickson asked the former vice president his response.
"I have no response," Biden said. "Another smear campaign. Right up your alley."
However, in a Fox News interview Sunday, Biden campaign surrogate Jenna Arnold admitted that no one from the campaign has addressed the authenticity of the emails.
The New York post editorial board pushed back Sunday night on establishment media's dismissal of its reporting as "unverified."
The editorial noted other media outlets have interviewed the owner of the Delaware computer repair shop, and he has "said exactly what we’ve reported from the start about how the laptop came into his possession."
Further, the paper has published emails and photographs, "most of which have nothing to do with Ukraine or China — that contain an extraordinary level of detail."
"Is that all fabricated?" the editors ask.
They note the Biden campaign's response to a purported email from a Burisma official thanking Hunter for an introduction to his father, which contradicts Joe Biden's claim that he knew nothing about his son's business dealings.
The campaign initially argued the meeting doesn't show up on Biden's official schedule. But when pressed by Politico, the campaign acknowledged it couldn’t say for certain that Biden didn't have a "cursory" meeting with the Burisma official.
The editorial pointed out the reporting by the Times and others of anonymously sourced claims of Trump-Russia collusion that turned out to be false.
"Now, suddenly, with a trove of information — which, again, the Bidens aren't even claiming is false — these same outlets want to ask endless questions about the chain of evidence. A chain of evidence that The Post has been up-front and open about," the editor's wrote.
"Desperate for Biden to win, they want to sink the story with innuendo rather than actually report on it. Don’t ask too many questions, and you can dismiss it all as "unverified.'"
Liberal journalist Glenn Greenwald, a co-founder of The Intercept, tweeted he can't "quite recall a media propaganda campaign this blatant and shameful as journalists unifying to call a story 'Russian disinformation' even though 1) there's no evidence Russia was involved and, more importantly, 2) nobody - nobody - denies the published emails are authentic."
Can't quite recall a media propaganda campaign this blatant and shameful as journalists unifying to call a story "Russian disinformation" even though 1) there's no evidence Russia was involved and, more importantly, 2) nobody - nobody - denies the published emails are authentic. https://t.co/dT3EdwPvjf
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 19, 2020
Fox News reported one of the people copied in a May 13, 2017, email that includes a discussion of "remuneration packages" for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm confirmed its authentiticy.
It identifies Hunter Biden as "Chair/ Vice Chair depending on an agreement with CEFC," the now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.
The email includes a note that "Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate. A proposed equity split references "20" for "H" and "10 held by H for the big guy?" with no further details.
Fox News sources who said "the big guy" was a reference to the former vice president.
Investigative reporter Adam Housely posted on Twitter an image he described as an email from Hunter Biden's lawyer to the repair shop owner asking that the laptop be returned.
Here ya go....this is the email sent to John Paul by Hunter Biden's lawyer. It is in reference to returning the laptops. Also...the attorney said Hunter dropped em off in 2017. Nope..try April 2019. He didn't even know when he left em there. Redactions on this document are mine https://t.co/QszglOJV1d pic.twitter.com/VvEguJ0Cec
— Adam Housley (@adamhousley) October 17, 2020
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