Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said “I don’t regret” signing a letter questioning The Post’s reporting on documents from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop weeks before the 2020 election.
The 82-year-old was among the most prominent of 51 former intelligence community officials who signed the note saying the bombshells had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The letter, dated five days after the first world-exclusive scoop was published, was fed to Politico and cited approvingly by then-candidate Joe Biden.
“I thought, at the time, it was appropriate to sound a warning about ‘Watch out for the dark hand of the Russians,'” Clapper told CNN host Kaitlin Collins on Tuesday night. “And, in my case, this is on the heels of what I saw the Russians do, in 2016, to interfere and influence the outcome of our election.”
Clapper added that “to this day, I still have not seen any official results, of a forensic analysis, of that laptop, as to whether or not in some way the Russians messed with it” — despite belated confirmation of the hard drive’s authenticity by the New York Times, the Washington Post and CBS News.
Clapper has previously said Politico’s headline for its story about the letter, “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say,” was a distortion of what the missive actually stated.
Some signatories of the letter, such as Douglas Wise, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s former deputy director, have subsequently admitted they knew portions of the laptop content were authentic at the time.
Former Vice President Joe Biden alluded to the letter during his second and final debate with then-President Donald Trump to stave off questions about alleged influence-peddling by his family.
Shortly after his takeover of Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk allowed journalists access to the so-called “Twitter Files” showcasing the FBI’s alleged role in suppressing The Post’s scoop on the laptop.
Republicans on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees have also scrutinized the letter and claims that it was instigated by Antony Blinken, the current secretary of state.
Hunter Biden reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, according to a Tuesday court filing from the Justice Department.
He has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of failing to pay his income taxes and will enter a pretrial diversion agreement for his alleged illegal possession of a firearm.
