FEC complaint alleges coordinated disinformation campaign during Biden’s 2020 campaign
An alleged campaign finance violation could ensnare Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 51 former top intelligence officials who claimed without evidence in 2020 that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.
America First Legal, a conservative organization run by former Donald Trump White House aide Stephen Miller, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in late October, alleging “coordinated communication” and an unreported in-kind contribution to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and related entities, in violation of federal law.
“[The] “Evidence Suggests Respondents Failed to Disclose Coordinated Expenditures That Constituted In-Kind Donations Regarding Infamous ‘Letter 51’: Former Intelligence Officials Claim Hunter Biden Laptop Story Had ‘All the Classic Hallmarks’ of Disinformation Russian,” reads the AFL’s 13th page-long complaint, accompanied by 110 pages of evidence.
The FEC complaint asserts that the Biden for President 2020 campaign, the Biden Victory Fund, the Democratic National Committee, and the Biden Action Fund should have been briefed on the coordination of efforts.
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A 2022 poll finds that four in five Americans who followed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal thought honest news coverage would have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The “Letter of the 51” was published on October 19, 2020, weeks before the November 8 presidential election between Biden and Trump.
Among the Obama administration officials who signed were former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Also signing was George W. Bush’s former ID, Michael Hayden, a vocal critic of Trump.
The complaint states that Panetta and Clapper donated to the Biden Victory Fund and the Biden for President campaign in 2020.
In March, former acting and deputy CIA Director Michael Morrell testified before the House Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committees that on October 17, 2020, then-Biden campaign adviser Blinken contacted him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story, first reported by the New York Times. Mail.
The complaint cited an April statement from the House Judiciary Committee that summarized Morrell’s testimony.
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Former CIA Deputy Director and Acting Director Michael Morrell testified before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee in March. (Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“Morell testified that his communication with Blinken was one of the few communications he had with the Biden campaign, and explained that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s campaign chairman, after the Oct. 22 debate to thank him for write the statement. House Judiciary Committee Press Release April said. Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped strategize the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-[former] Vice President Biden in the debate and help him win the election.”
The letter from intelligence officials provided cover and credibility for social media giants like Facebook and Twitter to restrict access and distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story, first revealed by the New York Post. Finally, both the New York Times and the Washington Post verified authenticity from Hunter Biden laptop. Additionally, during the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, Biden referred to the laptop story as Russian disinformation.
“There is reason to believe that the public statement by 51 former intelligence officials was a coordinated political operation to help elect Vice President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as set forth below,” the FEC complaint says.
This fits a pattern of election meddling, said Reed D. Rubinstein, senior counsel and director of oversight and investigations at America First Legal.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 23 at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“In 2016, high-ranking federal intelligence officials interfered in a presidential election, lying about Russian collusion in a failed effort to elect Hilary Clinton,” Rubinstein said in a statement.
“In 2020, many of these same officials interfered in a presidential election again, lying about Hunter Biden,” Rubenstein continued. “The Federal Election Commission’s charge includes election integrity: Americans have a right to know who coordinates with federal candidates. But this right is only as effective as the agency that enforces it. The FEC must act here.” 
Neither the Biden 2024 presidential campaign nor the Democratic National Committee responded to inquiries for this story.
The State Department also did not respond to a question about Blinken’s role from Fox News on the matter.
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The offices of the Federal Election Commission in Washington, DC, USA, on May 11, 2021. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)
The complaint alleges that the statement by the “51 former intelligence officials” was part of a carefully orchestrated effort to influence the 2020 election. AFL argued that the Biden campaign, through key individuals, was actively involved in drafting and disseminating of the declaration. The complaint contends that the public statement by the 51 former intelligence officials was strategically crafted to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story, with the intent of helping Joe Biden’s campaign.
The complaint details communication between then-Biden campaign adviser Blinken and Morell regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story. For its part, Blinken has denied it having a role.
“There is reason to believe that respondents did not report the prior contribution or identify the individuals who made it,” the complaint says.
The complaint also alleges that the disinformation campaign should be considered a “coordinated communication” under FEC regulations, subject to reporting requirements.
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President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House with US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, in Washington, DC, US, Tuesday, October 10, 2023 . (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The AFL complaint contends that the Biden campaign was actively involved in drafting and disseminating the statement, using the national security credentials of former intelligence officials to downplay the Hunter Biden laptop revelations.
The complaint also refers to a survey that found that almost four out of five Americans Those following the Hunter Biden laptop scandal thought honest news coverage would have changed the outcome of the election. The Technometric Institute of Politics and Policy survey was published in August 2022.
