‘Dirty Trick’: Barr Blasts Letter Framing Hunter Biden Laptop as Russian Disinformation

Attorney General William Barr speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on Dec. 21, 2020. Michael Reynolds/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Former Attorney General Bill Barr has slammed the 2020 letter written by intelligence officials dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, calling it a “dirty trick” and accusing them of being “political hacks.”

Just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, the New York Post ran a story about messages accessed from Hunter Biden’s laptop suggesting that Hunter had leveraged his father Joe Biden’s position as Vice President to secure lucrative business deals in Ukraine and China. Subsequently, 51 former U.S. spy officials signed a letter saying that the laptop story had Russian ties. In an April 26 interview with Newsmax, Barr called the letter a “dirty trick.”

The letter was a “clearly calculated” move and “couched in a way to create a false impression,” he added. “It was a political stunt. And I said I think all those so-called intelligence professionals act like hacks—political hacks.”

“The cover-up on the laptop was just another shameful episode of lying to the American public right on the eve of the election,” Barr said.

“Everyone knew that that was a legitimate laptop. And for now-President Biden, during the debates, to suggest it was Russian disinformation was just an outright lie to the American people.”

In an interview with Newsmax in August, Barr said that those who dismissed the story as Russian disinformation may not be held accountable with any legal consequences. He also admitted that the incident may have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.

“The intelligence officials suggesting that it was Russian disinformation in order to essentially keep a cork in it until after the election. I do think that that, given how close the election was, you know, I think that that probably affected the outcome, or at least is a very distinct probability of that,” Barr stated.

Barr had chosen to remain silent on the Hunter Biden scandal when it broke out, at which time he was the Attorney General. In March 2022, Barr admitted that he was “shocked” when Biden insisted that the laptop scandal was Russian disinformation during the second presidential debate in 2020.

At that time, the laptop was already in the FBI’s possession for 10 months. The agency had also opened up an investigation into Hunter for multiple offenses, including alleged money laundering. The laptop contained information directly connected to these allegations.

However, Barr chose not to make the information known to the public. Barr’s refusal to reveal the truth about Hunter Biden to the people upset former President Donald Trump.

“Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the election, about Hunter Biden? Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on,” Trump said in a tweet.

Letter Aimed to Benefit Biden

Barr’s April 26 comments come as a member of the 51 intelligence officials who issued the public statement admitted earlier this month that the statement was intended to benefit Biden’s presidential campaign.

On April 4, former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell, who was a signatory of the statement, testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the current Secretary of State Antony Blinken called him following the laptop story and that it was this call that led to Morell drafting the statement.

At the time, Blinken was the senior adviser to the Biden campaign. According to Morell, he “did not” have any intent to write the statement before Blinken called him.

Morell said that there were two aims behind the statement. “One intent was to share our concern with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue; and, two, it was [to] help Vice President Biden,” he said.

When Jordan asked why Morell wanted to help Biden, he replied, “Because I wanted him to win the election.”

Disservice to Democracy

Morell’s testimony was revealed by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Michael Turner (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in an April 20 letter to Blinken.

The letter pointed out that the Biden campaign played an “active role” in the origin of the statement, which aided in suppressing the Hunter Biden scandal and prevented Americans from making a “fully informed decision” during the 2020 presidential election.

“Although the statement’s signatories have an unquestioned right to free speech and free association—which we do not dispute—their reference to their national security credentials lent weight to the story and suggested access to specialized information unavailable to other Americans,” the letter said.

“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.”

Earlier on March 2, Jordan had suggested that the 51 former agents who signed the 2020 letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as Russian disinformation should lose their security clearance.