(RightWing.org) – Despite their best-laid plans, several executive branch entities could eventually face the music for their alleged criminal efforts to sway public opinion in favor of Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign cycle. Recent revelations from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee indicated the CIA helped promulgate and promote a disinformation campaign to cover up the authenticity of the now infamous Hunter Biden laptop.
A conservative activist group recently stepped into the fray by filing a lawsuit against the CIA. The conservative watchdog hopes to finally shed a blinding light on the agency’s alleged collusion with the “Dirty 51,” a group of former senior-ranking CIA officers that released a letter just 15 days before the November 2020 presidential election, claiming the information extracted from the younger Biden’s laptop had all the “classic earmarks” of a Russian disinformation operation.
Conservative Watchdog Group Sues CIA Under FOIA
The House Judiciary Committee, Intelligence Committee, and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released an interim joint staff report on May 10. The committees alleged that the CIA’s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) reviewed the Dirty 51’s letter and approved its content before release.
The committees’ report also indicated a PCRB employee may have submitted the letter to a former intelligence officer, who later agreed to sign it. However, the investigation and report remain incomplete. As expected, the CIA refuses to turn over documents related to their alleged activity involving the Dirty 51’s letter.
On August 17, Judicial Watch issued a press release announcing it filed a civil complaint against the CIA’s Office of General Counsel. The document asks the court to compel the agency to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by the watchdog group on May 11, 2023 — one day after the Judicial Committee released its report.
Judicial Watch is seeking records and written communications from the CIA and PCRB regarding a mid-October email request that the board “review and ‘clear’ a letter” involving Russian involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop story/disinformation plot. The CIA assigned the request a reference number but never turned over the documents.
Then, on June 23, Judicial Watch filed its civil complaint seeking to obtain those documents. It remains unclear why the watchdog waited until August to announce the lawsuit publicly.
Possible Collusion by the Biden Campaign?
A May 16 letter submitted to CIA Director William Burns from the Republican chairmen of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Judiciary Committee sheds light on Judicial Watch’s interest in the letter. They advised Burns that former Acting CIA Director Mike Morrell submitted the Dirty 51 letter to the PCRB and instructed the board to expedite its review of the document.
Likewise, previous testimony provided to both committees by Morrell confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was the driving force behind that letter. At the time, he served as a senior advisor to the 2020 Biden campaign, implicating that organization in the creation of the letter and alleged efforts to solicit assistance from the CIA.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton warned that the “Deep State CIA” appears to have “engaged in election interference… against the American people.” Now, the agency is refusing to release information lawfully requested under the FOIA statute. One has to wonder what the CIA and other federal agencies might have to hide.
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