{"id":5090,"date":"2023-08-22T13:41:53","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=5090"},"modified":"2023-08-22T13:41:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:41:54","slug":"judicial-watch-sues-cia-for-records-about-its-role-in-intel-letter-attacking-hunter-laptop-story-just-before-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=5090","title":{"rendered":"Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Records about Its Role in Intel Letter Attacking Hunter Laptop Story Just Before Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-117.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-5091\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"401\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-117.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5091\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-117.png 768w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-117-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-117-293x153.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-117-390x204.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>(Washington, DC)<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA for all communications of the spy agency\u2019s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) regarding an October 19, 2020, email request to review and \u201cclear\u201d a letter signed by 51 former intelligence community officials characterizing the Hunter Biden laptop story as having \u201call the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign\u201d&nbsp;(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/documents\/jw-v-cia-hunter-biden-laptop-letter-complaint-01844\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;(No. 1:23-cv-01844)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October 2020, in the run-up to the presidential election, the&nbsp;<em>New York Post<\/em>&nbsp;reported that Hunter Biden\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/10\/14\/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">laptop<\/a>,&nbsp;which was abandoned at a Delaware computer shop, contained embarrassing and possibly incriminating information about the Biden family.&nbsp;In a May 10, 2023,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/2023-05-10_the_hunter_biden_statement_how_senior_intelligence_community_officials_and_the_biden_campaign_worked_to_mislead_american_voters-sm.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a>&nbsp;the House Judiciary Committee revealed that on October 19, 2020, three days before the second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden, then-Acting CIA Director Michael Morell sent the PCRB the finalized letter for review, calling it a \u201crush job,\u201d and quickly secured its approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the CIA failed to respond to a May 11, 2023, FOIA request for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Records and communications of the Prepublication Classification Review Board, Central Intelligence Agency, including emails, email chains, email attachments, text messages, cables, voice recordings, correspondence, statements, letters, memoranda, reports, presentations, notes, or other form of record, regarding an October 19, 2020, email request to review and \u201cclear\u201d a letter involving the Hunter Biden laptop story potentially having Russian involvement or being a Russian disinformation plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a May 16, 2023,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/2023-05-16-mt-jdj-to-burns-cia-re-production-agreement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a>&nbsp;to CIA Director William Burns, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Michael R. Turner stated that the committees were conducting oversight of the October 2020 \u201cPublic Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails\u201d signed by 51 former intelligence community officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jordan and Turner wrote: \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CIA has documents responsive to our requests and necessary to our oversight. On October 19, 2020, at 6:34 a.m., Morell submitted the statement to the CIA\u2019s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB), instructing it was \u201ca rush job, as it needs to get out as soon as possible.\u201d The PCRB staff responded at 7:11 a.m. that it had received the statement, and cleared it for publication at 12:44 p.m. on the same day. Morell speculated that the quick turn-around from the PCRB was because \u201c[t]hey are probably afraid I\u2019m coming back\u201d as CIA director. On May 9, 2023, the CIA produced to the Committees two emails: Morell\u2019s email to the PCRB early on October 19, 2023, and the PCRB\u2019s response at 12:44 p.m. However, the Committees have reason to believe additional documents remain in the possession of the CIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Committees have received evidence that the CIA, or at least an employee of the CIA, may have helped to solicit signatories for the statement about Hunter Biden. According to former CIA employee David Cariens, he spoke with the PCRB in October 2020 regarding the review of his memoir and during that call a CIA employee \u201casked\u201d him if he would sign the statement.&nbsp;As Cariens explained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the person in charge of reviewing the book called to say it was approved with no changes, I was told about the draft letter. The person asked me if I would be willing to sign. . . . After hearing the letter\u2019s contents, and the qualifiers in it such as, \u201cWe want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails provided to the New York Post by President Trump\u2019s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement . . .\u2019 I agreed to sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If accurate, this information raises fundamental concerns about the role of the CIA in helping to falsely discredit allegations about the Biden family in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A House Judiciary Committee&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/republicans-release-report-how-senior-intelligence-community-officials-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a>&nbsp;details the testimony of former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos criticized the CIA\u2019s handling of the letter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Q. Does what [Former CIA official David Cariens] described there, that interaction with the [Prepublication Classification Review Board], sound like a quid pro quo to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A. I can\u2019t comment on this. This is\u2014to me, this is something that the [Prepublication Classification Review Board] in my experience would never engage in something like that. They are just straightforward back and forth in terms of approval. The idea they would have a comment on any other thing that they were working on, that to me is not even close to what I\u2019ve experienced with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Q. Does that concern you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A. If it\u2019s true, it would concern me, for sure. But I just\u2014I have a hard time believing that occurred. If it did, that\u2019s incredibly unprofessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Congressional&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/new-testimony-reveals-secretary-blinken-and-biden-campaign-behind-infamous\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">testimony<\/a>&nbsp;also confirms that the Biden campaign was behind the creation of the infamous Hunter laptop letter promoted by the CIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Deep State CIA, it seems, engaged in election interference and a political operation against the American people to help Joe Biden and hurt Trump,\u201d said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. \u201cAnd now the CIA is ignoring FOIA law to cover up its role in the scandal, censoring and suppressing the Hunter Biden\/Joe Biden laptop story just before the presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judicial Watch has multiple federal lawsuits focused on Biden family corruption:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July, Judicial Watch&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/hunter-biden-irs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sued<\/a>&nbsp;the DOJ for records from the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Deputy Attorney General regarding the Internal Revenue Service investigation of Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June 2023, Judicial Watch filed a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/bidens-bribery-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a>&nbsp;against the Department of Justice for a copy of the FBI FD-1023 form that describes \u201can alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.\u201d Judicial Watch also asked for communications about the FD-1023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In May 2023, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/biden-family-business-records\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a>&nbsp;against the National Archives for Biden family records and communications regarding travel and finance transactions, as well as communications between the Bidens and several known business associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On October 14, 2022, Judicial Watch&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/hunter-biden-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sued<\/a>&nbsp;DOJ for all records in the possession of FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten regarding an August 6, 2020, briefing provided to members of the U.S. Senate. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) raised concerns that the briefing was intended to undermine the senators\u2019 investigation of Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department on April 20, 2022, for messages sent through the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/jw-sues-for-hunter-biden-documents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SMART<\/a>&nbsp;(State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolkit) system that mention Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December 2020, State Department&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/burisma-impeachment-yovanovitch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">records<\/a>&nbsp;obtained through a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit showed that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie \u201cMasha\u201d Yovanovitch had specifically warned in 2017 about corruption allegations against Burisma Holdings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October 2020, Judicial Watch forced the release of State Department\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/dem-lobbying-firm-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\">records<\/a>\u00a0that included a briefing checklist of a February 22, 2019, meeting in Kyiv between then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and Sally Painter, co-founder and chief operating officer of Blue Star Strategies, a Democratic lobbying firm which was hired by Burisma Holdings to combat corruption allegations. At the time of the meeting, Hunter Biden was serving on the board of directors for Burisma Holdings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/judicial-watch-sues-cia-2\/\">https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/judicial-watch-sues-cia-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Washington, DC)&nbsp;\u2013 Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA for all communications of the spy agency\u2019s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) regarding an October 19, 2020, email request to review and \u201cclear\u201d a letter signed by 51 former intelligence community officials characterizing the Hunter Biden laptop story as having \u201call the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign\u201d&nbsp;(Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency&nbsp;(No. 1:23-cv-01844)). In October 2020, in the run-up to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5092,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5090\/revisions\/5092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}