Blinken was an adviser to Democrat Job Biden’s campaign at the time.
The release of Hunter Biden’s emails “cast doubt on President Biden’s previous denials of speaking to his son about his international business dealings,” the House Judiciary Committee said in a Thursday news release.
Fifty-one current and former intelligence officials signed the Oct. 19, 2020, open letter that warned Hunter Biden’s leaked emails, which appeared to show corruption in the Biden family, were part of a Russian operation.
“If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this,” they wrote.
Since then, the contents of the laptop have been verified as authentic.
“The White House is in full panic mode over tonight’s Blinken story,” a post from the House Judiciary GOP Twitter account said Thursday. “They got caught.”
The White House is in full panic mode over tonight’s Blinken story.
They got caught. https://t.co/cytb8i2U7G
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) April 21, 2023
In a letter to Blinken asking for a response to the revelation, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner quoted testimony from Michael Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA, that a phone call from Blinken was the impetus for him to draft the open letter.
“In his transcribed interview, Morell testified that on or around October 17, 2020, you reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story,” Jordan and Turner wrote to Blinken.
“That same day, October 17, you also emailed Morell an article published in USA Today alleging that the FBI was examining whether the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a ‘disinformation campaign,’” the Republicans said.
“The very bottom of the email you sent to Morell included the signature block of Andrew Bates, then-director of rapid response for the Biden campaign,” they wrote.
#BREAKING: Testimony Reveals Secretary Blinken and the Biden Campaign Were Behind the Infamous Public Statement from Former Intel Officials on the Hunter Biden Laptop @Jim_Jordan and @RepMikeTurner reveal HUGE news here: pic.twitter.com/bX3fpqJKPo
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) April 21, 2023
Morell told lawmakers members of the Biden campaign were deeply involved in the release of the open letter, according to Jordan and Turner’s letter.
The letter noted that Morell said the open letter about the laptop was intended, in part, to help Joe Biden in the election.
“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,” the Republicans wrote.
“This concerted effort to minimize and suppress public dissemination of the serious allegations about the Biden family was a grave disservice to all American citizens’ informed participation in our democracy,” they said.
Jordan and Turner called upon Blinken to share any information he has concerning the open letter.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 21, 2023
Jordan said the response to the revelation of Hunter Biden’s emails was about politics, not the truth.
“When the story came out on Oct. 14, 2020, about the Biden business operation and was then-Vice President Joe Biden involved, there was some concern that he was — and then quickly it turns into this political operation — that letter that became the basis for suppressing the story and keeping it from the American people just days before the most important election we have,” he told Fox News.
“It was a total political operation,” Jordan said.
