According to a Fox News Digital investigation, the nine senior national security and military officials who signed a letter on Sunday endorsing Vice President Harris' presidential bid also signed a letter nearly four years ago denying that Hunter Biden's infamous laptop was Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election.
A group calling itself National Security Leaders for America, a bipartisan group of former senior military and national security officials, released a letter on Sunday recommending Harris for the White House. The letter was signed by a total of 741 former senior national security officials.
Fox News Digital reviewed the list of signatories and found that nine of the former national security advisers who endorsed Harris also signed a letter in 2020 saying Hunter Biden's laptop was not Russian disinformation. This was before media outlets acknowledged the laptop's authenticity after the 2020 election and before the FBI ultimately cited the laptop as authentic during Hunter Biden's criminal trial earlier this year.
Signatories to both the 2020 letter and the endorsement of Harris include former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper, former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, former CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Acting CIA Director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA Chief of Staff Laurence M. Pfeiffer, former Chief of Staff of the Department of Defense Jeremy Bash, CIA station chief John Seifer, and former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Gregory Frye Treverton.
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Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (Reuters/Joshua Roberts/File)
Ahead of the 2020 election, the New York Post published a shocking story about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop.
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However, on October 19, 2020, 51 former intelligence officials issued a statement in an attempt to discredit the New York Post's reporting at the time, denying its value, saying the laptop “bears all the classic hallmarks of Russian intelligence operations.”
The laptop became public after his eldest son left it at a repair shop in Delaware ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
President Biden embraces his son Hunter at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancia)
The former military commanders' 2020 letter played a key role in helping many media outlets reject reports about the laptop as legitimate and provided political ammunition for President Biden to downplay the laptop during a debate with former President Trump during the last election cycle.
However, the liberal media changed their tune in 2022 after newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times recognized thousands of his emails stored on the laptop as authentic. The laptop also resurfaced this year during his eldest son Hunter's criminal trial in Delaware for allegedly purchasing firearms while struggling with cocaine addiction in 2018. Hunter was found guilty of all charges during the trial, and the laptop was formally submitted as evidence and confirmed as authentic by the FBI.
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Former CIA Director John Brennan (Reuters/Joshua Roberts/File)
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The former directors' 2020 letter drew renewed attention this year, when a joint report released by three House committees alleged that a current CIA contractor “coordinated” with the Biden 2020 campaign to “discredit serious allegations of Biden family influence tactics” related to Hunter's laptop, when 51 former intelligence officials issued a statement disavowing the laptop.
President Biden and Vice President Harris (Win McNamee/Getty Images/File)
Fast forward to Sunday, ahead of the 2024 election, a letter in support of Harris was signed by hundreds of former national security leaders, including nine who appeared in the 2020 letter, praising Harris as “prepared and strategic” while blasting Trump as “impulsive and ignorant.”
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“We are former public servants who swore allegiance to the Constitution. Many of us risked our lives for it. We are retired generals, admirals, senior enlisted men, ambassadors, and senior national security civilian leaders. We are Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We are loyal to our nation's ideals of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, not to any particular person or party,” read the letter endorsing Harris, released on Sunday.
Vice President Harris, Hunter Biden, President Biden (Getty Images)
“While we do not agree on everything, we are committed to two fundamental principles. First, we believe that America's national security requires a serious and competent commander in chief. Second, we believe that American democracy is irreplaceable; each generation has a responsibility to protect it. That is why we, the undersigned, are proud to endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States,” the statement added.
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Rear Adm. Michael Smith (Ret.), chairman of the National Security Leadership Council, defended the nine signatories in comments to Fox Digital on Sunday night, arguing that the 2020 letter was “well founded but ultimately wrong.”
“Their well-founded, but ultimately flawed, assessments do not detract from the value of a lifetime of public service. Their assertion that former President Trump is disinterested in democracy and unprepared to be commander in chief is as well-founded as their assessment of Vice President Harris as a strategic and savvy leader.”
