We’ve long been to the point where not only do people not trust President Trump; they also lose trust in anyone working for the administration. So it means nothing to them that Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said on Monday that Hunter Biden’s laptop “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” despite what Rep. Adam Schiff and all the usual suspects have been saying.
Now we have more than 50 former senior intelligence officials signing a letter that doesn’t necessarily deny that the Biden emails are authentic; they just believe the disclosure of the emails so close to the election “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
News: More than 50 former senior intelligence officials, including ex-Trump admin officials like Russ Travers, have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the Biden emails saga “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation”https://t.co/FM6TOCpDSP
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 20, 2020
More than 50 former senior intelligence officials have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Joe Biden’s son “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”https://t.co/T58QhdXEJd
— POLITICO (@politico) October 20, 2020
Let’s get right down to it, then: Does it just have the “classic earmarks” of a Russian disinformation campaign, or is it Russian disinformation? These are supposedly former senior intelligence officials.
The most active agents of disinformation and propaganda in US politics are current and former members of the intel community.
They were trained to lie and deceive but were supposed to direct it at foreign populations. Their main target is now domestic, & key ally the US media. https://t.co/pVrqvxtd5o
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 20, 2020
And this is why anti-war folks on left and right were best inoculated to their approach when the Russia hoax started. They'd been to that rodeo before.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 20, 2020
"While the letter’s signatories presented no new evidence,"….key point here.
— Z (@tradralert) October 20, 2020
How much of your reputation are you putting on the line by signing a letter also signed by 49 of your cronies?
And it makes perfect sense that the more continually palpable threat to them as individuals would not come from other nations but from the constant domestic clamoring for power.
Knowledge is power. All war is based on deception. OF COURSE they would weaponize info for gain.
— mazzaroth (@mazzaroth10) October 20, 2020
Basically anyone within intelligence communities can come forward to the media and be given the immediately benefit of the doubt. It’s insane.
— Douggie Jones, Fog Wanderer (@GordonGramsci) October 20, 2020
There is no such thing as a “former” member of the intel community… *cough* Anderson Cooper *cough*
— emīls (@coolguyemils) October 20, 2020
The key word is “former” for a reason.
— Dr Michael Myers (@drmikemyers) October 20, 2020
There is no such beast as a “former intelligence agent”, there are only active and inactive assets
— Felix Sulla (@jbbubba10) October 20, 2020
At least they’re just calling it “information” now instead of misinformation
— Austin Gray (@AustinGray) October 20, 2020
It is funny they don't even bother to call it "disinformation". What is a "Russian information operation" anyway? Sort of a public service announcement?
— Anton Kucherov (@kucherov_anton) October 20, 2020
A truly alarming state of affairs.
— Americanophile?? (@Americanophile) October 20, 2020
At least equal in value to testimony from "an unknown source": these self-declared Russophobes "want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails…are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement-just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious…"
— Hunt Tooley (@hunt_tooley) October 20, 2020
“We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” the letter reads.
"Has all the classic earmarks" is not evidence. On the other hand, biden campaign never denied the authenticity of the emails, and their denial of the meeting Hunter set up with Burisma board advisors stopped at "we couldn't find it in Biden's calendar".
— Joe Biden is a Richard Spencer Democrat (@retro_burrito) October 20, 2020
Yet their most effective move is to sign a letter. Seems to be a lot of that when you have nothing else
— Peter Heller (@Pistol495) October 20, 2020
Why they didn’t sign a letter when Mueller was investigating the false Russia collusion where all the exhibits were fabricated?
— Jose Garoffalo (@JGaroffalo) October 20, 2020
How the hell do they not understand that this is being slowrolled to make then look like idiots.
— James Gammell (@Destraudo) October 20, 2020
Democrats used to be at the leading edge of asking questions of the “intel community” and warning of the hazards of accepting their words blindly. They’ve completely gone off the rails.
— Joe Vols (@THEjoevols) October 20, 2020
Easily resolved by anyone on those emails disavowing them. Curiously, none have disavowed them. And, to further confound the situation, some have acknowledged their authenticity. So, 50 former senior intelligence officials have shown themselves to be idiots.
— Jim Johnson (@Blimey55) October 20, 2020
This reminds us of the talking point going around in 2017 that Christopher Steele’s nickname was “James Bond,” and what a master spy he turned out to be.
Related:
Drew Holden posts a thread on all the takes that the New York Post’s Hunter Biden scoop was Russian disinformation https://t.co/lbf5tGRzq5
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 19, 2020
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