In October 2020, 51 U.S. intelligence officials signed a letter regarding Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, which said it was part of a “Russian disinformation campaign.” The letter was attributed to the New York Post’s breakthrough story on the first son’s laptop.
Among the intelligence officials were former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Hayden, former National Intelligence Director Jim Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former National Intelligence Council chair Thomas Finegar, former National Security Agency deputy director Rick Ledgett and former CIA Director Leon Panetta.
These were just some of the high-ranking intelligence officials who said the New York Post’s story about Hunter’s laptop was fake.
Flash-forward to today, the American people have come to find out that Hunter’s laptop was indeed real and not part of any disinformation campaign from the Russian government.
One would assume that after years of research shedding light on the validity of Hunter’s laptop, the intelligence officials would conclude that their nearly two-year-old letter was, in fact, false.
Despite Hunter’s laptop now being a reality, one such intelligence official is still clinging to the theory that the laptop was part of a disinformation campaign on behalf of the Russians.
Speaking with Fox News host Breit Baier, Ex-CIA chief Leon Panetta, one of the signees of the infamous 2020 letter, said he has no regrets declaring that Hunter’s laptop was part of Russian disinformation.
Baier asked Panetta twice whether he regretted signing the letter, to which the ex-CIA director replied, “I don’t have any regrets about not trusting the Russians.”
“My concern was to alert the public [about] disinformation … Frankly I haven’t seen any evidence from any intelligence agency that that was not the case,” Panetta added.
Here's the clip of Leon Panetta telling Bret Baier he has no regrets about the MIS-information that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian disinformation operation. He wouldn't get this question on the lefty networks. pic.twitter.com/rHRDRsaS4H
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) October 13, 2023
Baier then pointed out that even Hunter has admitted the laptop belonged to him and that the contents of the laptop have been verified, adding that zero evidence has been provided to suggest the Russian government had any involvement in the matter.
It’s interesting how Panetta and the 50 other intelligence officials would rush to discredit a story that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The officials jumped to a conclusion without having any evidence to support it.
