WATCH LIVE: Rep. Comer holds press conference on probe into Biden family
The White House issued a preemptive strike ahead of the press conference, accusing the GOP of conducting 'evidence-free' investigation.
President Biden’s White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates has been implicated in the effort to discredit Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation during the 2020 presidential election, according to emails published by House Oversight Committee Republicans.
According to a report Wednesday by the House Weaponization Subcommittee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, former CIA senior adviser Nick Shapiro drafted a media pitch for the now-discredited letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials that tried to paint the laptop at the center of the New York Post's bombshell story as a Russian operation in October 2020.
"Giving this to you exclusively first if you guys want to run with it," Shapiro wrote in his pitch to the media outlets, according to the email on Oct. 19, 2020. "You can also use this on the record from me Nick Shapiro, describing what this is: ‘A large group of former career intelligence officers, many specializing in Russia, joined by a group of former intelligence community leaders, are all saying that they believe the Russians were somehow involved here.’"
"’The IC leaders who have signed this letter, worked for the past four presidents, including Trump,’" Shapiro’s statement continued. "’The real power here, however, is the number of former, working level IC officers, who want the American people to know that once again the Russians are interfering.’"
President Biden's sister Valerie Biden and son Hunter Biden board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 11, 2023. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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According to the GOP’s report, Shapiro shopped the letter to The Associated Press, The Washington Post and Politico. He then forwarded the letter to Bates of the Biden campaign, adding, "This is what I gave them."
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates speaks as Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young, center, and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Cecilia Rouse listen during a press briefing in the Brady Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2022. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
Politico ended up publishing the letter the next day, two weeks before the election.
"Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say," Bates tweeted, sharing Politico’s story.
"Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say," tweeted Jen Psaki, who later became Biden’s White House press secretary.
"If we see tonight from Donald Trump these attacks on Vice President Biden's family, I think we need to be very, very clear that what he's doing here is amplifying Russian misinformation," said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager who later served as White House communications director.
Indeed, Biden brought up the letter during his final debate against former President Donald Trump, saying the laptop was a "Russian plant" and a "bunch of garbage."
"There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he's accusing me of is a Russian plant," Biden said at the time. "… Five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except his good friend Rudy Giuliani."
Biden still pushed the Russian theory that December, telling Fox News’ Peter Doocy, "Yes, yes, yes," when asked if he believed the laptop was Russian disinformation.
The White House and Shapiro did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
President Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
HUNTER BIDEN ARRANGED NYC MEETING BETWEEN VP BIDEN AND ROSEMONT-CONNECTED BUSINESS ASSOCIATE
The New York Post was the first to report on the laptop just three weeks before the 2020 presidential election, leading to widespread censorship of the article on social media platforms, including Twitter, which was working closely with the FBI at the time, Elon Musk’s Twitter Files have shown.
Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell testified to the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees last month that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as President Biden’s then-campaign senior adviser, "played a role in the inception" of the letter signed by intelligence officials seeking to discredit the story.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Hunter Biden (Getty Images)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Blinken saying, "Based on Morell’s testimony, it is apparent that the Biden campaign played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election."
Morell also said that he received a call from Biden's White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, who was serving as the chairman of the 2020 campaign at the time, following the Oct. 22 debate. Morell said the call was to thank him for spearheading the letter.
BIDEN'S CLAIM TO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF HUNTER'S BUSINESS DEALINGS IS BECOMING HARDER TO MAINTAIN
Flanked by House Republicans, U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 17, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
House Oversight Republicans also released a report Wednesday revealing that the Biden family and its business associates created more than 20 companies and received more than $10 million from foreign nationals, including in China and Romania, while Joe Biden served as vice president, and that some of these payments could indicate attempts by the Biden family to "peddle influence."
The committee says it is investigating "the opaque corporate structure of particular Biden-affiliated companies, those companies’ complicated connections with each other, whether these companies maintained books and records, and why certain foreign nationals sought to partner with and engage in businesses with specific Biden family members and their companies."
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The White House has slammed the committee’s investigation as "evidence-free" and "politically motivated." The White House has also maintained that President Biden has never been involved in his son’s business dealings.
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