Judiciary Committee releases interview transcripts of signers of Hunter Biden laptop letter

The House Judiciary Committee released transcripts Thursday of interviews with eight intelligence officials who were among the 51 signatories of the infamous letter labeling reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop as a potential “Russian information operation.”

The transcripts show one letter drafter intended the 2020 letter to be a way to give then-Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden talking points for his debate with President Donald Trump.

Former CIA Director’s John Brennan and Michael Morell and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were each interviewed by the committee. They each served as senior intelligence officials during the Obama Administration.

Morrell, who helped draft the statement, told to the committee his purpose was two-fold, to warn Americans about the danger of Russian influence in the elections and to help Biden politically.

“I think of it as two motivations," he said. "You know, one, let the American people know about what we saw as a deep suspicion of Russian involvement; and then, two, helping the vice president."

Biden was the vice president in the Obama administration.

“You wanted to help the vice president, why?” Jordan asked.

“Because I wanted him to win the election,” Morell answered.

You can read Morell’s interview transcript here:

Earlier this week, the CIA admitted that Morell and one other former employee were contractors of the agency during the time period when the letter was drafted, the Judiciary Committee said in a new report.

You can read all eight transcripts here.

Brennan told the committee that even if others were motivated to sign the letter to help the former vice president in the election, he only wanted to bring attention to the “potential” for Russian interference in the election.

“That may have been the intent of the drafters of that email, even the drafters of the statement itself,” Brennan said of Morell’s reasoning. “But my intent, as I mentioned, I wanted to bring attention to the potential for Russian interference in the Presidential election once again, because I had firsthand knowledge of their interference in the 2016 Presidential election,” he added. Though he also said the signers had no actual evidence of a Russian hand in the information stemming from the laptop. 

You can read Brennan’s transcript here:

Biden successfully used the letter to deflect from accusations stemming from evidence found on his son's laptop. 

“Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said that this has all the characteristics – four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage,” Biden said.

"Just the News" previously reported that Morell testified a phone call from then-Biden campaign official Antony Blinken triggered the effort to draft the letter, further highlighting the political nature of the statement.