DNI Ratcliffe: Hunter Biden Emails, Laptop ‘Not Part of Some Russian Disinformation Campaign’
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Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Monday said Hunter Biden’s recovered laptop and emails, which purportedly show Joe Biden had involvement in his son’s foreign business dealings, are “not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.”
Ratcliffe’s comments, which refute claims made by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff that the emails are a smear attempt coming “from the Kremlin,” came during an appearance on FOX Business.
“It’s funny that some of the people who complain the most about intelligence being politicized are the ones politicizing the intelligence,” Ratcliffe said. “Unfortunately, it is Adam Schiff who said the intelligence community believes the Hunter Biden laptop and emails on it are part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”
He continued: “Let me be clear: the intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress.”
A New York Post report last week details emails which suggest Hunter Biden may have made an introduction between his father, then- Vice President Joe Biden, and a Ukrainian adviser to Burisma Holdings in 2015.
The documents were reportedly recovered from a laptop computer that was dropped off at a repair shop in Delaware in April 2019 but never retrieved. The authenticity of the emails has not been confirmed.
“We know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin,” Schiff said of the emails on CNN. “That’s been clear for well over a year now that they’ve been pushing this false narrative about this vice president and his son.”
Ratcliffe said the claims of Russian disinformation are “simply not true.”
“Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” Ratcliffe said. “This is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.”
He said the laptop is “in the jurisdiction of the FBI” and the Bureau’s investigation “is not centered around Russian disinformation and the intelligence community is not playing any role with respect to that.”
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