John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence, told Fox Business on Monday morning that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not part of a Russian disinformation campaign despite the media’s attempts to claim otherwise.
Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo pressed Ratcliffe about claims from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who made repeated false claims during the Russia investigation, that the news surrounding the laptop was Russian disinformation.
“Is this Russian disinformation, director?” Bartiromo asked.
Ratcliffe responded, “So, Maria it’s funny that some of the people that complained the most about intelligence being politicized are the ones politicizing intelligence and unfortunately in this case, it is Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who as you pointed out on Friday said that the intelligence community believes that Hunter Biden’s laptop and e-mails on it are part of some Russian disinformation campaign.”
“Let me be clear, the intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that and we shared no intelligence with chairman Schiff or any other member of Congress that Hunter Biden’s laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” he continued. “It’s simply not true.”
Ratcliffe said that Schiff “wants anything against his preferred political candidate to be deemed as not real and is using the intelligence community, or attempting to use the intelligence community, to say there’s nothing to see here.”
“Don’t drag the intelligence community into this,” Ratcliffe continued. “Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign and I think it’s clear the American people know that.”
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe blasts Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff for leveraging a political narrative.
"Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign." pic.twitter.com/49SSjhfQuN
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 19, 2020
The segment comes after the New York Post published a series of explosive reports last week outlining alleged emails that came from a laptop that was dropped off at a computer repair store in Delaware last April. The person who brought the laptop into the store never paid for service and never retrieved the device and, the store owner, after inspecting the device, turned it over to federal law enforcement officials. The store owner also claims to have made a copy of the device’s hard drive, which he later turned over to an attorney.
The New York Post’s first report stated:
The never-before-revealed meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the e-mail reads.
An earlier e-mail from May 2014 also shows Pozharskyi, reportedly Burisma’s No. 3 exec, asking Hunter for “advice on how you could use your influence” on the company’s behalf.
“The Post noted that the revelation comes after Biden has repeatedly denied speaking with his son, Hunter Biden, about his overseas business dealings,” The Daily Wire reported. “Fox News host Tucker Carlson released a picture last year of Joe Biden playing golf with his son and his son’s business partner, Devon Archer, who also served on Burisma’s board.”
Tucker Carlson revealed this pic tonight from 2014 that shows Biden playing golf w/his son and his son's business partner, Devon Archer, who were both on the board of the Ukrainian gas company at the time
Biden said earlier this month that he *never* discussed business w/his son pic.twitter.com/vdeoMNpXpK
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 1, 2019
Late last week, Fox News confirmed the veracity of some of the emails that were published, including ones that appeared “to outline a payout for former Vice President Joe Biden as part of a deal with a Chinese energy firm.”
“One email, dated May 13, 2017, and obtained by Fox News, includes a discussion of ‘remuneration packages’ for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as ‘Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,’ in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co,” Fox News reported. “The email includes a note that ‘Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.’ A proposed equity split references ’20’ for ‘H’ and ’10 held by H for the big guy?’ with no further details. Fox News spoke to one of the people who was copied on the email, who confirmed its authenticity.”
Multiple sources reportedly told Fox News that “the big guy” was a reference to the former vice president.
“The Biden campaign and Hunter Biden have not disputed the authenticity of any of the emails from his purported laptop that have been published so far,” The Daily Caller reported. “They have also not denied that Biden dropped off the laptop at a computer shop last year.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.