Former CIA director John Brennan whined Tuesday about President Trump pulling security clearances for 51 ex-intelligence officials including him — all of whom claimed in an infamous letter that The Post’s bombshell scoop on Hunter Biden’s laptop emails in 2020 were part of a “Russian information operation.”
“He misrepresented the facts in that executive order because it said that we had suggested that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation,” Brennan griped to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
“No, we said it was one of the hallmarks of Russian information operations, including the dumping of accurate information, which is what we said in that letter,” he added.
Critics immediately tore into the former intel boss.
“John Brennan is a pathetic liar,” one X user posted.
“John Brennan, whined on MSNBC about the revocation of his security clearance for lying, and lied again,” independent journalist Glenn Greenwald snarked, pointing to Politico’s story on the letter. “He denied he and CIA goons said the Hunter laptop was ‘Russian disinformation.’”
Politico was the first outlet to publish the leaked letter in an article titled: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”
The headline has never been corrected — despite the FBI and other federal officials and whistleblowers acknowledging in the years since that the emails’ contents were authentic and that the bureau had obtained the future first son’s abandoned laptop and verified its authenticity in November 2019.
During Hunter Biden’s trial on gun charges last June, it was also entered into evidence by federal prosecutors.
Trump’s Day One executive order pulling the spies’ clearances also noted “the letter was sent to the CIA Prepublication Classification Review Board, the body typically assigned to formally evaluate the sensitive nature of documents prior to publication” and that senior officials at the agency “were made aware of the contents of the letter.”
“I happen to disagree with the decision to rescind the clearances, but Brennan’s defense only undermines that position,” said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. “There are a variety of arguments against the removal, including hampering discussions between current and former officials. However, the letter was clearly arranged by Biden campaign supporters with the intent to influence the election.”
“The letter contradicted the view of the intelligence agencies themselves and signatories like Wise later acknowledged that he assumed that many of the emails were likely authentic. Biden then used the letter, as intended, to deflect questions on the influence-peddling scandal.”
Brennan and the other 50 so-called “Spies Who Lie” — some of whom were active CIA contractors — also released the letter three days before the second 2020 presidential debate, and then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden immediately used it to dismiss allegations of corruption involving his son.
“There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant,” Biden said during the final showdown with Trump before the election. “Five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”
In fact, the letter had been “triggered” by a phone call in between The Post’s Oct. 14, 2020, report on the laptop emails and Oct. 17 from then-Biden senior campaign official Antony Blinken to former CIA Director Michael Morrell, the ex-spy chief later testified to the House Judiciary Committee.
Other co-signers on the letter included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr., former CIA director Michael Hayden and former Secretary of Defense and ex-CIA Director Leon Panetta.
In a tweet the day before the debate, Brennan likened so-called “disinformation” from Trump to similar efforts from the Kremlin.
“While Russia is still quite good & very active, @realDonaldTrump is now the most accomplished & extensive propagator of lies & disinformation,” the ex-CIA chief said in response to the Republican claiming Biden would raise taxes and push for a single-payer, government-run health care system.
“Vote him out,” Brennan urged.
The missive from the G-men even acknowledged none knew if Hunter’s emails about meetings with a Ukrainian businessman and involvement in a joint energy venture with China were “genuine.”
“We do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” the co-signatories wrote, “just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”
On MSNBC, Brennan dismissed Trump’s order as “bizarre,” but the text of the executive action accuses him and the other 49 living spies of having “willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions.”
“This fabrication of the imprimatur of the Intelligence Community to suppress information essential to the American people during a Presidential election is an egregious breach of trust reminiscent of a third world country,” it states.
“And now the faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled.”
