Clapper Transcript: No Regrets for Signing Letter Falsely Dismissing Hunter Biden Laptop

Austin FILE - In this May 8, 2017, file photo, former National Intelligence Director James
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
Joel B. Pollak

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the House Judiciary Committee last year that he did not regret signing the infamous 2020 letter of 51 former intelligence officials suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop was fake.

Clapper and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Brennan were two of the most prominent figures to sign the letter. They were also key players in the discredited “Russia collusion” hoax against then-President Donald Trump.

The laptop had incriminating evidence of apparent crimes by Hunter Biden, and evidence to suggest that then-candidate Joe Biden had been implicated in his son’s business affairs and influence-peddling.

As Breitbart News noted at the time, the letter suggested that the laptop was a product of a Russian “information” (i.e. disinformation) campaign.

The House Judiciary Committee released transcripts of closed-door interviews with Clapper, Brennan, and other officials who signed the letter. Earlier testimony had revealed the role of Antony Blinken — now Secretary of State — and former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell in circulating the letter to help Biden in the last presidential debate.

Clapper’s testimony confirms that the letter was used specifically in an effort to provide Joe Biden a talking point for the debate in the event that President Donald Trump brought up the laptop, as he eventually did. Biden replied: “Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan. 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 and his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”

In one section of the Clapper transcript, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) asks Clapper if he regrets signing the letter, given subsequent confirmation that the laptop is real and that the files stored on it were also authentic. He says he does not.

From the transcript (original emphasis):

Mr. Stewart. So you have — and I want to say this gently and respectfully — but you have cited your background and your experience in Russian disinformation, you’ve had 2 years to evaluate the evidence, and you still have no conclusion as to whether this was a Russian disinformation campaign?

Mr. Clapper. I have not had access to the laptop, myself, and I don’t know any results of a legitimate forensic analysis of it. Again, all I was suggesting of the possibility that Russians could be involved. I didn’t say they were.

Mr. Stewart. So at this point, you would think it would be valid for us to continue to investigate the Hunter Biden laptop as possible Russian disinformation?

Mr. Clapper. Certainly.

Mr. Stewart. Okay. And do you regret signing the letter?

Mr. Clapper. No.

Mr. Stewart. Still not. With all the information available to you now, you still don’t regret it?

Mr. Clapper. No. This is two and a half years ago.

Mr. Stewart. But with the information available to you now, do you wish you could go back and say, you know, I wish I wouldn’t –.

Mr. Clapper. No, I don’t. I do wish we added a statement in the letter that said something along the lines of, “We will of course abide by the results of a legitimate forensic analysis of the laptop.” I think that would have strengthened the letter.

For his part, Brennan also said he had no regrets, except that the letter has “given fuel to those who want to create this furor over it.”

The testimonies took place a year before the Department of Justice would formally and publicly confirm the authenticity of the laptop in prosecuting Hunter Biden for lying on a federal gun form.

There were no apologies from the 51 signatories.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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