A letter published today (Monday, October 19, 2020) with the signatures of 50 "former intelligence" officials is a self-inflicted wound of comedy and absurdity wrapped in the specious claim of special expertise. Thank God none of these clowns still hold a position anywhere in the national security bureaucracy. Their inability to grasp basic facts and engage in simple reasoning perhaps explains why the Obama team abandoned American military and intelligence officials at Benghazi in September 2012 and why they considered ISIS as "a junior varsity" team.
Basically, this group of mediocrities are sure that the Hunter Biden emails are part of some nasty Rooskie plot:
. . . we write to say that the arrival on the US political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden’s son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving on the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.
There is only one teeny, tiny problem. They have no facts to back up their deluded judgment, supposedly based on years of experience. Just goes to show that experience without real intelligence is no substitute for competence.
Let us start with the facts that are documented:
1. Hunter Biden signs a work order on 12 April 2019 with The Mac Shop in Wilmington, Delaware to recover data on the hard drive of a Mac Laptop damaged by water.

2. The repair is completed on the 17th of April. Hunter Biden is notified by email and phone that the laptop and hard drive are ready to be picked up. Total cost--$85. Hunter did not respond. (Running the recovery on the hard drive apparently was not an expensive proposition).
3. In September of 2019, the owner of the Mac Shop talked with his dad about the Biden computer and the fact that it had material that might be relevant to the Ukraine issue. Father and son decided the best course of action was to approach the FBI. The father, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, volunteered to make the approach.
4. Steve Mac Isaac, father of John Paul Mac Isaac, goes to the FBI field office in Albuquerque in mid-September and offers the hard drive and work order to the FBI. The FBI only makes a copy of the work order and asks Mr. Mac Isaac to leave. The FBI volunteers no further actions on the part of the Mac Isaacs.
5. November 2019, the FBI suddenly reaches out to the Mac Isaac's and visits the shop in Wilmington, Delaware. John Paul Mac Isaac asks the FBI to take the computer and the hard drive. They refuse and leave.
6. Early December 2019, the FBI returns to the Mac Shop and presents a grand jury subpoena for the computer and the hard drive. John Paul Mac Isaac happily surrenders the items to the FBI.
7. John Paul Mac Isaac watched and wondered from December 2019 thru August 2020, expecting the FBI would do something with the information on the computer and the hard drive. But nothing happened. John Paul turned over a copy of the hard drive to Rudy Giuliani's attorney in early September 2020.
The New York Post stories based on the contents of the hard drive came from Rudy Giuliani and his team, not from John Paul Mac Isaac.
The Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, declared on the record on Monday, October 19th, that the info on the Hunter Biden computer is not Russian disinformation. He specifically stated that there was no intelligence to support such a conclusion.
Today (Tuesday, October 20) the FBI and the Department of Justice confirmed the DNI's declaration:
ONE senior federal law enforcement official says:
1-The FBI and DOJ concur with DNI Ratcliffe's assessment that Hunter Biden's laptop and emails in question were not part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
2-The FBI DOES have possession of the Hunter Biden laptop in question.
If this was a Russian operation, it would mean the Russians have the most amazing and powerful intelligence capability in the world. Specifically, it would mean the following:
- The Russians knew months in advance of April 2019 that Joe Biden was going to declare as a candidate for President and then managed to give an actual Hunter Biden laptop to the computer repair shop in Delaware.
- The Russians knew that the FBI would take possession of the lap top and the hard drive in December 2019--more than five months before Joe Biden secured the Democrat nomination for President--and that they could control what the FBI did and what John Paul Mac Isaac did.
If the emails published from the material Rudy Giuliani supplied to the New York Post differed from those on the lap top and hard drive in the possession of the FBI, it would be easy to discredit Rudy. The FBI would simply have to state that no such emails exist on the Hunter Biden computer and hard drive.
There is no evidence that John Paul Mac Isaac acted at the behest of any outside power to give the Hunter Biden hard drive to Rudy Giuliani. What we do know is that John Paul Mac Isaac never tried to sell the hard drive to the tabloid media nor did he try to give it to any member of the press. John Paul is a true patriot. He trusted the FBI and thought the system would do the right thing.
So there you have it. Proven liars like Jim Clapper and John Brennan, along with the likes of Mike Hayden, are claiming without one shred of evidence that emails validated by the FBI are somehow a magical Russian disinformation campaign. As I noted at the outset, it would be laughable were the claim not so dangerous to the security of the United States. They are the ones meddling in the Presidential election by using their status as former top intel officials as a platform for spreading a lie about Russian interference in hopes of persuading uninformed voters to accept this mendacity as fact.
This has nothing to do with Russians, except for the millions a wealthy Russian oligarch paid to Hunter. The truth of the matter is the Joe Biden used his son, Hunter, to enrich himself and his family. While Democrats continuously insist that Donald Trump is corrupt and unethical, the Hunter Biden emails provide devastating evidence that it is the Bidens, not the Trumps, who are engaged in corrupt and slimy business deals. Those are the facts.
Hayden, Clapper, Brennan, and Schiff, amongst many others need to be sent to the gallows. Who will send them there?
Posted by: eakens | 21 October 2020 at 10:59 AM
I am so very happy I am NOT related to the Biden family.
I just received confirmation from my County Clerk and Recorder that my completed ballot was received in her office after being retrieved from the lock box in which I submitted by ballot. I did NOT vote for Joe.
Posted by: Diana L Croissant | 21 October 2020 at 01:02 PM
All named parties should be under Barr-Durham's radar for Russiagate alone. One more reason to re-elect Trump: Finish the Barr-Durham Probe.
How will this story end. Then move on to investigate why nothing was done about Hunter Biden's computers held in FBI hands since Dec 2019.
Meanwhile, make your case independent of these ongoing investigations, why and how will America get back on track after you are re-elected? Hungry to hear the good news.
Posted by: Deap | 21 October 2020 at 01:26 PM
So Hunter is Joe's bagman for pay to play schemes? Probably I am being naive, but wouldn't it be prudent to keep your bagman slightly further at arm's length than your troubled, drug-using, teen-diddling son?
Posted by: j. casey | 21 October 2020 at 01:34 PM
thanks larry... have to keep up the russia plot, lol... if you haven't seen patrick armstrongs article yet, it is worth the read..
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/10/20/russophrenia-or-how-a-collapsing-country-runs-the-world/
Posted by: james | 21 October 2020 at 01:35 PM
Nothing will happen - no consequences, no punishment.
Bill Barr's (a swamp creature in good standing) mask is dropping - the phony Durham "investigation," documents held by the FBI NEVER released to Congress despite numerous requests (not that the Senate seems overly curious, more like going through the motions), ignoring the Biden crimes, Antifa/BLM running wild and no investigations, indictments.
The swamp is winning.
The message: "Don't question us, don't argue with us. WE run this country, not Trump, not you. Now shut up and wear a mask."
And the sad irony: the swamp is grossly inept.
If these "mediocrities" rose to the top, imagine the losers below them?
Posted by: TV | 21 October 2020 at 02:04 PM
The FBI sat on this for over a year. Trump nominees have run the FBI & DOJ for 4 years.
What would change in his second term?
Posted by: blue peacock | 21 October 2020 at 04:07 PM
BP New People
Posted by: turcopolier | 21 October 2020 at 06:53 PM
Deap
"Finish the Barr-Durham Probe?" The Barr-Durham Probe is finished. One trivial indictment. Done.
Posted by: Bill H | 22 October 2020 at 01:46 AM
As the deal takes shape in 2017, Mr. Bobulinski begins to question what Hunter will contribute besides his name, and worries that he was “kicked out of US Navy for cocaine use.” Mr. Gilliar acknowledges “skill sets [sic] missing” and observes that Hunter “has a few demons.” He explains that “in brand [Hunter is] imperative but right know [sic] he’s not essential for adding input.” Mr. Bobulinski writes that he appreciates “the name/leverage being used” but thinks the economic “upside” should go to the team doing the actual work. Mr. Gilliar reminds him that those on the Chinese side “are intelligence so they understand the value added.”
LJ am I to understand that Mr.Gilliar KNEW he was dealing with Chinese intelligence and still went all in?
Posted by: Teakwoodkite | 23 October 2020 at 11:01 PM
The quote is from WSJ
Posted by: TeakWoodKite | 23 October 2020 at 11:06 PM
Teak,
Yes. He knew. Awful.
Posted by: Larry C Johnson | 23 October 2020 at 11:09 PM
Along those lines I find this which puts meat on those crackhead bones
A National Security Threat !
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2020/10/23/jaw-dropping-report-details-chinese-state-owned-companys-partnership-with-biden-kerry-families-n267739
The Chinese have no qualms about pissing off a few billion if it can buy the Vice President of the United States.
Them whores ain’t cheap.
Posted by: TeakWoodKite | 24 October 2020 at 12:09 AM