An alleged campaign finance violation could ensnare Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 51 former senior intelligence officials who asserted without evidence in 2020 that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
America First Legal, a conservative organization run by former Donald Trump White House aide Stephen Miller, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in late October, alleging a \u2018coordinated communication\u2019 and an unreported in-kind contribution to the Joe Biden presidential campaign and related entities, in violation of federal law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018[The] evidence suggests that the respondents failed to disclose coordinated expenditures constituting in-kind donations with respect to the infamous \u2018Letter of 51\u2019 former intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story had \u2018all the classic earmarks\u2019 of Russian disinformation,\u2019 says the 13-page AFL complaint, with 110 accompanying pages of evidence.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
The FEC complaint claims that the Biden for President campaign in 2020, the Biden Victory Fund, the Democratic National Committee, and the Biden Action Fund should have reported on coordinating efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u2018Letter of 51\u2019 was released on Oct. 19, 2020, weeks before the Nov. 8 presidential election between Biden and Trump.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Obama administration officials who signed included former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Former George W. Bush DNI Michael Hayden, a vocal Trump critic, also signed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The complaint notes that Panetta and Clapper donated to the Biden Victory Fund and the Biden for President campaign in 2020.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
In March, former CIA Deputy and Acting Director Michael Morrell testified to the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committees that on Oct. 17, 2020, then-Biden campaign adviser Blinken contacted him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story first reported by the New York Post.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
The complaint cited an April statement from the House Judiciary Committee that summarized the Morrell testimony.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Morell testified that his communication with Blinken was one of a few communications he had with the Biden campaign, explaining that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, Chairman of the Biden campaign, following the October 22 debate to thank him for writing the statement,\u2019 the House Judiciary Committee press release from April said. \u2018Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-[former] Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
The letter from intelligence officials provided cover and credibility for social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter to restrict the access and distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story, first broken by the New York Post. Eventually, both the New York Times and Washington Post verified the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop. Also, during the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, Biden referred to the laptop story as Russian disinformation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018There are reasons to believe that the public statement by 51 former intelligence officials was a coordinated political operation to help elect Vice President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as set forth below,\u2019 the complaint to the FEC says.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
This fits a pattern of election meddling, said Reed D. Rubinstein, senior counselor and director of oversight and investigations for America First Legal.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018In 2016, high-ranking federal intelligence officials interfered in a presidential election, lying about Russia collusion in a failed effort to elect Hilary Clinton,\u2019 Rubinstein said in a statement.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018In 2020, many of these same officials again interfered in a presidential election, lying about Hunter Biden,\u2019 Rubenstein continued. \u2018The Federal Election Commission\u2019s charge includes election integrity \u2014 Americans have the right to know who is coordinating with federal candidates. But this right is only as effective as the agency that enforces it. The FEC must act here.\u2019\u202f<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither the Biden 2024 presidential campaign nor the Democratic National Committee responded to inquiries for this story.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n The State Department also did not respond to an inquiry about Blinken\u2019s role from Fox News about the matter.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n The complaint alleges that the \u201951 former intelligence officials\u2019 statement was part of a carefully orchestrated effort to influence the 2020 election. AFL argued the Biden campaign, through key individuals, actively participated in drafting and disseminating the statement. The complaint argues that the 51 former intelligence officials\u2019 public statement was strategically crafted to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story, with the intent of aiding Joe Biden\u2019s campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n The complaint details communication between then-Biden campaign advisor Blinken and Morell regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story. For his part, Blinken has denied having a role.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018There is reason to believe that the respondents failed to report the above contribution and to identify the individuals who made it,\u2019 the complaint says.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n The complaint also alleges that the disinformation campaign should be considered a \u2018coordinated communication\u2019 under FEC regulations, subject to reporting requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AFL complaint contends that the Biden campaign actively participated in drafting and disseminating the statement, utilizing the national security credentials of the former intelligence officials to downplay the Hunter Biden laptop revelations.\u00a0<\/p>\n The complaint further references a survey that found almost four of five Americans who followed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal thought that honest news coverage would have changed the outcome of the election. The survey by Technometric Institute of Policy and Politics was released in August 2022.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n