Back in the fall of 2020, after the New York Post published a bombshell story about Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell,” the Biden campaign worked behind the scenes to dispute it. The campaign eventually recruited 51 former intelligence officials to sign on to the letter suggesting that the laptop was Russian disinformation. The letter was published three days before Biden debated Trump, which allowed him to dismiss the story during the debate.
“Look, there are 50 former National Intelligence folks who said that what this, he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan,” Biden said in the debate. “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. Nobody believes it except him, his, and his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”
But it was way worse than that. The letter was used by Big Tech as cover for social media platforms to censor speech about the laptop. The letter stands out as the most significant example of genuine election interference in our nation’s history.
Several Republican lawmakers are advocating for Congress to revoke the security clearances of former U.S. intelligence officials who have made egregiously false claims.
Republicans have called for accountability from the 51 intelligence officials who were accused of helping Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden, Mr. Trump’s opponent in 2020, by issuing a joint letter stating that the information in the laptop bore the hallmarks of an operation by Moscow.
Hunter Biden is the president’s oft-troubled son, and the FBI later verified the authenticity of the scandalous material in the laptop.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said, “It should be an option” to yank the officials’ security clearances. Mr. Graham told The Washington Times that each official must be held accountable and that he plans on writing a letter to each one soon. He did not specify what the letter would say.
“I think we should scrub all the legacy clearances to see whether the people need to have them and for what purpose, and unless they’re working for a company in a role that makes sense, they should be taken away,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif). “Most on that list [of 51], I would include in that scrubbing.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) believes that the 51 intelligence officials “should all lose their security clearances.”
According to the report, Vice President-elect JD Vance previously pledged during the campaign that the incoming Trump administration would revoke these clearances. While the Trump administration could act independently to remove them, some Republicans argue that legislation would ensure "no clearances are left untouched." However, legislation to revoke their clearances would potentially face an "uphill battle" in the Senate for some strange reason.
“I hope [Congress does something]. Yeah, I’m more on the wing of holding people accountable, though not all my colleagues are. But I definitely hope so,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told the Washington Times.
Some Republicans are demanding accountability.
“What they have done is highly unethical, immoral, and it’s terrible for democracy and terrible for our country,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said, “these guys that lied about Trump and targeted him.”
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) informed The Washington Times that there are no ongoing discussions about introducing legislation to address the security clearances of the 51 intelligence officials.
There better be soon. Honestly, revoking their clearances would be getting off easy.
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