REVEALED: CIA solicited signatures for infamous letter suggesting Hunter Biden laptop was ‘Russian disinformation’

"One signer of the statement, former CIA analyst David Cariens, disclosed to the Committees that a CIA employee affiliated with the agency’s Prepublication Classification Review Board ('PCRB') informed him of the existence of the statement and asked if he would sign it. The Committees have requested additional material from the CIA, which has ignored the request to date," the report states.

In a written statement provided to the committee by Cariens, he said that the CIA, or at least one CIA employee, "may have helped in the effort to solicit signatures for the statement," the report states.

Cariens said that he spoke with the PCRB in October of 2020 regarding the review of his memoir and during the conversation the CIA employee "asked" him if he would sign the statement.

In an email sent by Cariens to Congressional investigators on March 5, 2023, he explained, "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’s contents, and the qualifiers in it such as, '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…’ I agreed to sign."

Cariens told the investigators that he had been "following the Hunter Biden laptop issue," and given his past expertise, "I felt there was enough circumstantial evidence to raise the suspicion that Russian intelligence was involved," adding that his wife, a former CIA employee, signed as well.

The report notes that Cariens wrote to former CIA official Kristin Wood at 10:35 am on October 19, 2020, "Yes, I want to sign."

The email came eight minutes after Wood had sent a mass distribution email soliciting signatures.

The PCRB had been in possession of the statement since 6:34 am on October 19, 2020, when former CIA acting director Mike Morell, who drafted the letter along with retired CIA employee Marc Polymeropoulos, sent the letter to the PCRB.

The PCRB reviews statements, letters, and books published by former intelligence personnel to screen for potential classified information.

The PCRB acknowledged receipt of the letter at 7:11 am the same day.

During Morell’s testimony, he said that he did not coordinate with the CIA, referring to Carien’s allegations, and that such an action by a CIA employee would be "inappropriate."

On an October 18, 2020 email to several former intelligence personnel, Morell requested signatures, stating, "Marc and I drafted the attached because we believe the Russians were involved in some way in the Hunter Biden email issue and because we think Trump will attack Biden on the issue at this week’s debate and we want to give the VP a talking point to use in response."

"We would be honored if each of you would be willing to join us in signing the letter," the report states.

Wood used Morell’s language in her email to several intelligence personnel the following day.

Some former intelligence officials refused to sign the first draft of the letter, with two paragraphs about Biden’s relationship with Ukraine being omitted. In one email between Morell and former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Nick Rasmussen, Morell wrote: "The last two paras are gone, as some folks thought them too political. Just Russia and intel now. Better."

In an October 18 email to Morell, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper "offered editorial advice to 'strengthen the verbiage,'" according to the report.

"I have one editorial suggestion for the letter: I think it would strengthen the verbiage if you say this has all the classic earmarks of a Soviet/Russian information operation rather than the 'feel' of a Russian operation," he wrote in the email.

A final version of the letter was sent to the PCRB on October 19, 2020 at 6:34 am, stating that "This is a rush job, as it need to get out as soon as possible."

He testified that he wanted the letter out "before the debate."

The report states that the PCRB appeared to have "approved … as written" the letter sometime before 5:51 pm.

In response to a test message from Polymeropoulos, Morell texted that the PCRB "cleared" the statement. "Great!" Polymeropoulos responded.

The report noted that on March 21, 2023, the committee requested documents from the CIA relating to the statement and interactions between the CIA and the cosigners of the statement, with a due by date of April 4, 2023. "The CIA has so far failed to comply to this oversight request," the report states.