(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe has expressed his concerns regarding the allegations surrounding the alleged CIA involvement in concealing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 presidential election.
In a Saturday interview with Fox and Friends Weekend, Ratcliffe weighed in on the ongoing lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Judicial Watch is actively seeking documents related to the CIA’s role in gathering signatures for an infamous letter that falsely dubbed the Bidens’ laptop bombshell as part of a Russian disinformation campaign, but has so far refused to release documents.
“There’s no legal basis for the CIA to withhold the documents that are being requested. There’s no privilege that attaches, and there’s no classified information because there are no classified documents surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop,” Ratcliffe asserted.
Ratcliffe pointed out that during his tenure as the director of national intelligence, he publicly stated that the laptop revelations were not connected to Russian disinformation. “That was the official position of the intelligence community,” Ratcliffe emphasized, “Yet, despite that, there was this coordinated campaign to mislead the American people and American voter right before the election.”
HUGE: @JudicialWatch Sues CIA for Records about Its Role in Intel Letter Attacking Hunter Laptop Story Just Before Election – https://t.co/y3pRswwwNS pic.twitter.com/y8fJBmcj8u
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 18, 2023
Ratcliffe went further to address the allegations that certain members within the intelligence community may have played a role in misleading the public.
“Clearly, the intelligence community, specifically the CIA, played a role in that,” Ratcliffe continued. “These 51 former intelligence officials not only put out this letter that was deliberately false and intentionally intended to mislead the American voter, but the facts and evidence show now, Rachel, that they had help within the CIA, with actual CIA employees who supported and solicited signatures for a letter they knew to be false,” Ratcliffe stated.
He also underscored the significance of focusing on the intelligence community’s role within the broader context of elections, referencing both the 2016 and 2020 attempts at interference.
“There’s been so much talk about a two-tiered system of justice and the roles of the Department of Justice and the FBI played here, but there ought to be focus on the intelligence community because both in 2016 and 2020 you did have attempts to interference with the election,” Ratcliffe remarked.
The lawsuit by Judicial Watch has sparked discussions about the implications of intelligence agencies involving themselves in political matters, particularly ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
