Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Monday that Hunter Biden’s laptop ‘is not part of some Russia disinformation campaign’ as he blasted Rep. Adam Schiff for saying dirt on Trump’s rival came from the Kremlin.
Ratcliffe, a Trump loyalist who assumed his post in May, accused Schiff of having ‘politicized’ intelligence – and responded to Schiff’s claim about the mysterious laptop that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani says he obtained from a computer repair shop owner.
Its contents, which Giuliani provided to the New York Post, include emails purporting to show business ties between Joe Biden and his son, who in documents looks to be seeking to cash in on his father’s former position as vice president.
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Monday that Hunter Biden’s laptop ‘is not part of some Russia disinformation campaign’
‘It’s funny that some of the people that complain the most about intelligence being politicized are the ones politicizing the intelligence,’ Ratcliffe told Fox News on Monday.
‘And unfortunately, it is Adam Schiff who said the intelligence community who as you pointed out on Friday said that the intelligence community believes the Hunter Biden laptop and emails on it are part of a Russian disinformation campaign,’ he added.
Schiff, a Democrat, chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
Asked if the laptop was part of Russian disinformation, Ratcliffe replied: ‘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 Chairman Schiff, or any member of Congress that Hunter Biden’s laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign. It’s simply not true.’
Ratcliffe went after former House colleague Rep. Adam Schiff, who connected revelations from Hunter Biden to the Kremlin
Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani says the laptop with Hunter Biden’s (above) information on it was brought into a computer repair shop, whose owner gave it to Giuliani’s lawyer
House Intel chair Adam Schiff said the ‘smear’ on Biden ‘comes from the Kremlin’
President Trump has seized on articles about the laptop and accused the Bidens of ‘corruption’
U.S. Intelligence concluded Russian military intelligence hacked Democratic emails in 2016 in an effort to harm Hillary Clinton
The New York Post published a photograph, said to be found on an abandoned laptop, showing Hunter with a crack pipe in his mouth, left. A series of compromising pictures of Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter, 50, (above) have been released just weeks ahead of the US election on November 3
Ratcliffe added: ‘The intelligence community has not been involved in Hunter Biden’s laptop,’ however he also said that the FBI, which is part of the intelligence community, was in possession of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
‘The FBI has had possession of this,’ Ratcliffe said. ‘Without commenting on any investigation that they may or may not have, their investigation is not centered around Russian disinformation and the intelligence community is not playing any role with respect to that.’
Giuliani provided the Post with a subpoena for the laptop dated December 2019, a possible indication it has been in the bureau’s possession for months.
Ratcliffe, who was a vocal defender of Trump during impeachment where Schiff played a key role, called out people using the Intel community to ‘leverage some political narrative.’
Schiff told CNN that ‘We know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin.’
‘That’s been clear for well over a year now that they’ve been pushing this false narrative and the vice president and his son. … pushing this Kremlin narrative is pretty breathtaking. … and the president is only too happy to have Kremlin help to amplify it.’
The attacks come amid continued questions about the Hunter Biden emails that have roiled the campaign in its final weeks.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, helped by Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said it is investigating the emails and has been in touch with a ‘whistleblower.’ The committee only last month produced a lengthy report that accuses Hunter Biden with ‘corruption.’
The post reported, based on an email said to be included in the laptop, that Ukrainian official Vadym Pozharskyi had sought a meeting with the elder Biden in 2015.
‘Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,’ the email said.
However the email did not state that the two actually met, and the Biden campaign responded that ‘we have reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.’
President Trump has seized on the information and has made it a staple of his election rallies over the weekend, seeking to portray the Bidens as a ‘crime family.’
The Treasury Department in September designated Ukrainian parliamentarian Andrii Derkach, who has met with Giuliani, as seeking to influence the U.S. electoral process.
Treasury said Derkach has been ‘an active Russian agent for over a decade.’
Giuliani traveled to Ukraine and met with Derkach as part of his effort to dig up dirt on the Bidens.
Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Derkach has claimed a second laptop belonging to Hunter Biden’s business contacts in the country has been seized by law enforcement there
Andrii Derkach posted to Facebook on Friday to say there is a ‘second laptop’ involving evidence of corruption and connected to the Bidens, The Daily Beast reported.
He claims to know of a second laptop, used by ‘two representatives for the interests of [Burisma founder Mykola] Zlochevsky.’ Hunter served on the board of directors at Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
In the post Derkach says that laptop ‘was given to Ukrainian law enforcement’ and that Burisma representatives were now serving as ‘witnesses in criminal proceedings.’