Blinken Denies Role in Open Letter That Called Hunter Biden Laptop Story Russian Disinfo

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference at the State Department in Washington on April 11, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has denied playing any part in the letter signed by more than 50 former intelligence officials that sought to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story as a Russian disinformation campaign.

“One of the great benefits of this job is that I don’t do politics and don’t engage in it,” Blinken told Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall in an interview on May 1 when asked if he had any role in the letter.

“But with regard to that letter, I didn’t—it wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it. And I think the testimony that the former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morrell, put forward confirms that,” Blinken said.

The letter Blinken was referencing was signed by 51 former senior intelligence officials ahead of the 2020 presidential election (pdf).

Signatories of the open letter claimed that the contents of a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

“We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement—just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case,” the letter stated.

“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,” it added.

An exterior view of The Mac Shop, where Hunter Biden allegedly brought his laptop for repair but never picked it up, in Wilmington, Del., on Oct. 21, 2020. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Former CIA Senior Official Testifies

Blinken’s comments came shortly after the former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morrell—who was among the individuals who signed the 2020 letter—told the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees that he had organized the letter after Blinken “reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story.”

Testimony cited by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)—who heads both the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government—states that at the time Blinken allegedly reached out to Morrell, Blinken was serving as a senior adviser to the Biden campaign.

Morrell’s testimony was revealed in an April 20 letter Jordan wrote to Blinken stating that lawmakers had learned that the secretary of state “played a role in the inception” of the 2020 letter while serving as a Biden campaign adviser.

“According to Morell, although your outreach was couched as simply gathering Morell’s reaction to the Post story, it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement,” the letter reads.

The letter then goes on to share some of Morell’s testimony before lawmakers in which they ask him, “prior to [Secretary Blinken’s] call, you—you did not have any intent to write this statement?” to which Morrell responds, “I did not.”

“Okay. So his call triggered [the letter],” they ask Morell, to which he responds, “It did, yes,” before reiterating that it “absolutely” did.

President Joe Biden (L) alongside his son Hunter Biden exit Holy Spirit Catholic Church after attending mass in Johns Island, S.C., on Aug. 13, 2022. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Blinken ‘Not Engaging in Politics’

The letter reveals additional testimony in which Morell told lawmakers that Blinken had emailed him a USA Today article alleging that the FBI was examining whether the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a “disinformation campaign.”

Morell later told lawmakers during his testimony that his intent regarding the 2020 letter was to “share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue” and “to help Vice President Biden.”

The Epoch Times has been unable to contact Morrell for comment.

Jordan’s letter to Blinken seeks materials that could help advance lawmakers’ oversight and inform potential legislative reforms. Jordan gave Blinken until May 4 to hand over the requested documents.

Subsequent reporting has confirmed that the contents of the laptop as reported by the New York Post were not part of a “Russian information operation” and that the laptop was dropped off at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware.

In the May 1 Fox News interview, Hall asked Blinken if he accepts that the laptop is not Russian disinformation.

“Again, from my perspective, I’m not engaging in politics. I have got a lot on my agenda, things that we have just talked about, trying to help the Ukrainians and the Russian aggression against them, engaging with allies and partners around the world, and dealing with some of the challenges posed by China,” Blinken responded.

“We have a situation now in Sudan that has fully occupied my time,” he said. “So that’s where my focus is.”

The Epoch Times has contacted the State Department for comment.