Senate Republicans Demand Security Clearance Details of 51 Ex-Officials Who Signed Hunter Biden Laptop Letter

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks in Washington, D.C., on March 8, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Senate Republicans are asking that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence provide security clearance information for the 51 ex-officials who signed a letter asserting that the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

In a letter (pdf) dated June 1, they made the request to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. It was signed by top Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) James Risch (R-Idaho), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and James Lankford (R-Okla.).

The lawmakers conveyed their concerns about the letter condemning the laptop and the potential “politicization of intelligence.”

“We are deeply concerned these former senior members of the U.S. Intelligence Community misused their titles and connections to pursue a coordinated, partisan effort to protect President Biden during the 2020 election,” the lawmakers said in their address to Haines.

Frustration among the senators was due to the 51 retired national security officials’ release of a public statement before the 2020 election alleging that the Hunter Biden laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Former officials John Brennan, James Clapper, and Leon Panetta all signed the document.

“We now know this letter was part of a deliberate effort to protect the Biden campaign in the waning days of the election,” the Republican senators continued.

The senators also pointed out that the 51 former intelligence officials “highlighted their former titles and previous experience in the intelligence community to bolster the credibility of the state and further the effectiveness of this partisan political operation.”

Republicans want Haines to reveal how many of the 51 signatories “maintained an active security clearance” between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2020, and how many still do.

In the lower chamber of Congress, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) have threatened to subpoena the CIA to force them to address claims of its involvement in the letter meant to discredit the reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Jordan and Turner sent a letter (pdf) to CIA Director William Burns requesting that the agency provide additional documents pertaining to its involvement in the October 2020 intelligence community letter.

The Republican chairmen threatened to use their subpoena authority to require the intelligence agency to disclose its records.

The laptop materials, which were first reported by the New York Post, indicated that then-presidential candidate Joe Biden was aware of his son’s international business transactions, despite his denials throughout the 2020 election cycle.

Jordan and Turner demanded that the agency disclose any communications it had with any of the 51 signatories of the intelligence community letter during the month of October in 2020.

The Director of National Intelligence’s office did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.