Blinken sent Russian disinformation claim to organizer of Hunter Biden laptop letter, email shows

As a Biden campaign adviser, Secretary of State Antony Blinken emailed to the organizer of the now-discredited Hunter Biden laptop letter the key news article used by 51 U.S. intelligence experts in fall October 2020 to falsely insinuate the computer's contents were Russian disinformation, according to documents obtained by Just the News.

The email from Blinken to former acting CIA Director Michael Morell is set to be made public as early as Thursday in an interim report by the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. Thst report among other things  concludes the now-infamous laptop letter was a political operation to benefit Joe Biden that was disguised to look like an intelligence security warning.

The report, which corroborates earlier reporting by Just the News, also shows that as Morell gathered former ex-intelligence officials to sign the letter and put their name behind the unsubstantiated claim of Russia interference he also boasted to some that the effort was buoying the Biden campaign and its chances of defeating then-President Donald Trump in the fall election.

"The more former intelligence officers the better," Morell emailed a former CIA officer he was sharing the letter with in hopes of getting people to sign. "Campaign will be thrilled."

But the congressional investigation's most impactful findings involve Blinken, now America's top diplomat, 

Just the News reported last month that testimony gathered by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan revealed that Morell organized the letter to benefit Joe Biden and that his role was "triggered" by a call from Blinken in October 2020 shortly after the Hunter Biden laptop emerged in the New York Post and efforts began to censor stories about it.

Since that revelation, Blinken has tried to minimize his role, telling reporters it was not his idea to do the letter without challenging the veracity of Morell's account.

The new email shows Blinken played a key role one evening in mid-October 2020, delivering a USA Today article that would eventually be quoted in the letter in the one passage that suggested the Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. The email was sent a few hours after Blinken called Morell.

The subject line of Blinken's email at 10:53 p.m. on Oct. 17, 2020 read: "A tabloid got a trove of data on Hunter Biden from Rudy Giuliani. Now, the FBI is probing a possible disinformation campaign."

In his testimony to Congress, Morell confirmed he received the email from Blinken.

The committee report, slated to be released soon, is expected to note that Blinken included a reference to the Biden campaign's rapid response director.

"Notably, at the bottom of Blinken's email was the signature block of Andrew Bates, then-Director of Rapid Response for the Biden campaign," the report reads. In that role, Bates "was charged with defending" then-Vice President Biden "and his team against attacks on the campaign trail, while also employing an aggressive offensive strategy against President Trump and his team."