Former Director of Nationwide Intelligence James Clapper has been slammed for claiming that Politico “intentionally distorted” a letter he signed that characterised The Submit’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer as a part of a “Russian info operation.”
Clapper and 50 different notable members of the intelligence neighborhood authorised the letter questioning the veracity of The Submit’s exclusives printed in October 2020 concerning the first son’s shady abroad enterprise relationships.
The letter was leaked to Politico, extensively picked up by different nationwide media retailers and ultimately used as marketing campaign fodder by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Clapper instructed the Washington Submit Monday that “there was message distortion” within the preliminary reporting on the letter.
“All we had been doing was elevating a yellow flag that this could possibly be Russian disinformation. Politico intentionally distorted what we stated. It was clear in paragraph 5,” Clapper stated.
Journalists who’ve lengthy criticized the letter weren’t shopping for Clapper’s rationalization.
“If James Clapper knew Politico and [reporter] Natasha Bertrand had been mendacity about what their letter stated, why didn’t he say so then?” Pulitzer winner Glenn Greenwald posted on Twitter Monday.
Bertrand, whose byline appeared on the story with the headline: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officers say”, has since moved on to CNN, the place she covers the White Home with a concentrate on nationwide safety.
“Actuality,” Greenwald continued, “the CIA/[intelligence community] individuals mendacity wished the media to unfold this. Solely now that somebody has to take the hit is Clapper saying Politico lied.”
Clapper’s declare that he was unaware that Biden introduced up the letter in his last debate with former President Donald Trump and referred to as The Submit’s story “a bunch of rubbish” additionally elicited skepticism.
“Clapper in fact didn’t complain concerning the Politico headline … on the time, even tho Biden cited the ‘distorted’ article throughout a debate w/ Trump (which Clapper laughably claimed he didn’t find out about),” Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy wrote on Twitter.
Biden additionally cited the letter in a “60 Minutes” interview that October, calling the report a part of a “smear marketing campaign.”
Different media retailers additionally ran with the Politico story, repeating the claims of “Russian disinformation.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), then the chair of the Home Intelligence Committee, seized on the Politico report in an interview with CNN.
“Properly we all know that this entire smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin. … Clearly, the origins of this entire smear are from the Kremlin,” he stated on the time.
Greenwald blasted the media for “remodeling” the claims by Clapper and others into reality.
“The CIA and different intelligence operative scumbags have some extent right here, one I’ve confused from the beginning. Of their letter to control the election, they stated they didn’t *know* it was Russian disinformation, simply thought it was. It was the media that remodeled it into reality,” he stated.
“I don’t care who’s bored by it: 2 weeks earlier than People went to vote for President, the CIA and others within the intelligence neighborhood concocted an outright lie that almost all main media firms unfold. Everybody now is aware of it’s a lie, however not one media outlet has retracted it,” he continued.
Kash Patel, who labored within the Trump administration, instructed Fox Information Digital that the American public deserves a proof from information retailers.
“One, this Congress ought to subpoena at the very least the management construction of these 51 individuals, those who served as administrators and deputy administrators of our intelligence companies and legislation enforcement neighborhood and simply say, ‘Why did you make this assertion? Why did you signal this letter? What was the bait? You’re the former director of the CIA. Actually somebody despatched you intelligence so that you can signal on to this and what was the intelligence,’” he stated.
Earlier this month, the Home Judiciary and Intelligence committees demanded interviews with Clapper and 11 different letter signers, a reality famous by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).
“In Oct 2020, Politico used a letter signed by 50+ former intel officers to label the Hunter Biden Laptop computer story as ‘Russian Disinformation,’” Marshall wrote on Twitter. “Now, [Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan] is requesting interviews & letter-signer James Clapper is altering his tune two years too late.”