Senate GOP demands answers on security clearances of signatories of Hunter Biden laptop letter

EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans are demanding the Office of the Director of National Intelligence provide information on the status of security clearances for the 51 ex-officials who signed onto a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Just before the 2020 election, 51 former national security officials wrote a public letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." It was signed by former President Obama CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, among others.

The Republicans are demanding Haines provide information on how many of the 51 signatories "maintained an active security clearance" at the time of the letter— between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2020—and how many currently possess a security clearance.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., along with Sens. James Risch, Tom Cotton, John Cornyn, Jerry Moran, and James Lankford, penned a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines Wednesday, obtained by Fox News Digital, expressing their concerns about the letter and the potential "politicization of intelligence."

"We are deeply concerned these former senior members of the U. S. Intelligence Community misused their titles and connections to pursue a coordinated, partisan effort to protect President Biden during the 2020 election," they wrote.

"We now know this letter was part of a deliberate effort to protect the Biden campaign in the waning days of the election," they continued, adding that the 51 former intelligence officials "highlighted their former titles and previous experience in the Intelligence Community to bolster the credibility of the state and further the effectiveness of this partisan political operation."... (Read more)

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