Key members of the incoming House Republican majority have signalled their intent to target a group of former US intelligence officials who signed on to an open letter voicing doubts over the veracity of an October 2020 New York Post article alleging that President Joe Biden had met with one of his son Hunter’s business associates during his time as vice president.
On Sunday, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy accused the more than four dozen ex-officials — including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, ex-Central Intelligence Agency directors John Brennan, Michael Hayden and Leon Panetta, and former acting CIA director John McLaughlin — of having “lie[d] to the American public” when they warned that reporting based on data from a cache of evidence purportedly copied from a laptop belonging to the president’s son could be furthering a Russian disinformation campaign.
