FIRST ON FOX: A former top intelligence official gave a one-word answer when asked if he would retract the letter he signed along with 51 other former officials warning Hunter Biden's infamous "laptop from hell" was Russian disinformation.
James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, signed the heavily scrutinized letter just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, claiming the laptop had "all the earmarks" of a Russian effort to influence the vote.
"No," he simply said when asked by Fox News Digital if he regretted signing it despite the laptop now being used by prosecutors arguing Hunter committed a federal gun crime.
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Clapper also refused to publicly remove his name from the letter despite evidence proving the device and its contents were legitimate and would not concede he and the other former intelligence officials who signed on should have waited longer to weigh in.
The laptop, filled with videos and photos of drug use, sex acts and sensitive business communications, was shown to the jury Tuesday in an effort to prove the president's son lied about using drugs on a gun purchase form.
Critics took to social media to blast Clapper and others following revelations the laptop would be entered into evidence.
"No one is above the law, except: James Clapper — lied to Congress/never charged," political science professor Nicholas Giordano wrote in a post on X. That was a reference to Clapper previously being accused of perjury when he testified before Congress that the Obama administration was "not wittingly" collecting Americans' telephone records.
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"It was an intelligence community coup," wrote another X user, suggesting the letter's timing was meant to influence the 2020 election.
While the laptop has since been authenticated by a variety of news outlets, it was rejected when the New York Post first reported it in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, including by Joe Biden's campaign, which vigorously denied its legitimacy.
The campaign, however, appeared to be coordinating the release of the letter signed by Clapper, which was published days before a debate between Biden and Trump in which Biden claimed, "There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant."
Despite claims from former officials that the laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation, Fox News Digital reported that federal investigators with the Department of Justice knew in December 2019 that Hunter Biden’s laptop was "not manipulated in any way" and contained "reliable evidence."
But they were "obstructed" from seeing all available information, according to an IRS whistleblower involved in the probe, nearly a year before the former intelligence officials and Joe Biden declared it was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Fox News' Brian Flood and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
