Secretary Blinken Denies Spearheading the Hunter Laptop ‘Disinformation’ Letter. An Ex-CIA Chief Disagrees.

If only Secretary Blinken were as adept at results-driven diplomacy — which is nominally his job — as he is at covering his tracks, he might be able to spend more time countering Chinese and Russian threats and less playing politics. America’s top diplomat has been given a deadline of the end of the business day on May 4 to respond to a very specific demand made by Congressman Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, and Congressman Mike Turner, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, with respect to the infamous abandoned laptop belonging to Hunter Biden.The two Republicans of Ohio are eager to learn with whom Mr. Blinken communicated about a 2020 letter signed by 51 current and past intelligence officials that aimed to discredit a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop by attempting to link it to a Russian disinformation campaign.A former director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said on the same day that the letter was signed in 2020 that Russian disinformation was not behind the emails that showed Hunter Biden’s murky international business dealings. In testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees last month, a former CIA deputy director, Michael Morrell, agreed that a phone call from Mr. Blinken “triggered” the intent to devise the statement. Republican lawmakers believe that the Biden campaign’s attempt to suppress the laptop story — an effort that inadvertently or otherwise was given varying degrees of lift by the FBI and social media giants Facebook and Twitter — prevented Americans from making informed decisions only weeks before the 2020 presidential election. In a new interview with Fox News’s Benjamin Hall, Mr. Blinken dodged a question about his role in the formulation of the letter, but did not categorically deny that he had a role. “One of the great benefits of this job is that I don’t do politics and don’t engage in it,” he told Mr. Hall, adding, “with regard to that letter, I didn’t — it wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it.”Ever the diplomat, Mr. Blinken’s words here must be carefully parsed here. He may not have “asked” for it or come up with the “idea,” but what was his role? According to Mr. Morrell, he had a major role at a crucial time — when the golden rung of his current job was dangling in the offing.So that raises the question: Did his boss, the president, Hunter’s father, do the soliciting part? Prior to his nomination for the position of secretary of state in November 2020, Mr. Blinken served as an adviser to the Biden 2020 presidential campaign. Ties between the two politicians precede even that role. Prior to serving as deputy secretary of state under President Obama, Mr. Blinken served Vice President Biden as his national security advisor. In July 2015, Hunter Biden met with Mr. Blinken at the Department of State. At the time of that meeting, the president’s son had recently been appointed to the board of directors of the large Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma, which has since been linked to corruption. Its co-founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, is wanted by Ukrainian authorities on bribery charges.According to a Fox News report, “emails from the infamous abandoned laptop that Blinken sought to discredit show that Hunter has ties to Blinken and his wife, Evan Ryan, dating back over a decade, having scheduled meetings with him while he was on the board of Burisma and Blinken was deputy secretary of state.” Ms. Ryan was a senior advisor for the Biden-Harris transition team and now serves as President Biden’s Cabinet secretary. In one of the emails retrieved from the laptop, Hunter Biden asked Mr. Blinken, “Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee? I know you are impossibly busy, but would like to get your advice on a couple of things.” “Absolutely,” Mr. Blinken replied by email. “I’m just about to land in Tokyo en route back DC from Burma. I’ll be in office from Tuesday on…Look forward to seeing you. Tony.”On Sunday, on the basis of this now well-publicized email, a Republican senator of Minnesota, Ron Johnson, accused Mr. Blinken of committing perjury because he claimed in a 2020 deposition that he had never had email communication with Hunter Biden. Mr. Blinken was evasive in response to Mr. Hall’s question, “Do you accept that the laptop is not Russian?” He replied in part, “I’ve got a lot on my agenda.”That agenda is getting busier. The pressure is mounting on Capitol Hill for Mr. Blinken, a career politician who now somewhat incredulously says that he “doesn’t engage in politics,” to account for some of his questionable communications before he was swept up in the whirlwind of “trying to help the Ukrainians in the Russian aggression against them, engaging with allies and partners around the world in dealing with some of the challenges posed by China.” It may be too soon to pass judgment on Mr. Blinken’s sundry dealings with the Bidens, but the connection to Hunter Biden that he is diplomatically trying to dispel is clearly no longer deniable. As Hunter Biden’s spiraling legal travails engulf the White House and more lawmakers clamor for answers, the secretary of state might want to step up to the plate before he is pushed there by force of circumstance.Mr. Blinken’s flagging credibility is arguably less relevant to voting Americans than what his cultivated guile is bringing into ever clearer view: Democrat-led tactics to quash uncomfortable truths about influence-peddling at the highest levels of this government.

Secretary Blinken Denies Spearheading the Hunter Laptop ‘Disinformation’ Letter. An Ex-CIA Chief Disagrees.

More from the New York Sun

Thousands Of Venezuelan Women Remain Trapped In Colombia’s Sex Trade Following Maduro’s Capture

‘You Got Older,’ Together With its Frail and Forthright Family, Returns to New York

The Forgotten Casualties of Operation Gideon: A Venezuelan Family’s Unending Nightmare

More from the New York Sun

Thousands Of Venezuelan Women Remain Trapped In Colombia’s Sex Trade Following Maduro’s Capture

‘You Got Older,’ Together With its Frail and Forthright Family, Returns to New York

The Forgotten Casualties of Operation Gideon: A Venezuelan Family’s Unending Nightmare

Netanyahu Envisions New Mideast Alliances

‘RESIGN’: GOP Lawmakers Turn on Texas Congressman Accused of Demanding ‘Sexy’ Photos From Aide Who Later Set Herself on Fire

Inside the ELN: A Former Commander Explains Why Colombia’s Last Major Guerrilla Group Has Lost Its Way

Michael Jordan Goes From Hardwood to Horsepower With a Spectacular NASCAR Takeover

Schumer Vows To Block Any Authorization for Tariffs Trump Seeks on Capitol Hill