House Dems Publish Transcript Rebutting Jim Jordan’s Claim That Blinken Was Behind Security Officials’ Letter on Hunter Biden Laptop

House Judiciary Committee Democrats, led by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), released a scathing statement on Friday blasting their Republican colleagues on the committee and Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for making “baseless claims” about Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Jordan released a statement on Thursday claiming that during “a transcribed interview with Michael Morell, a former Deputy Director of the CIA,” Morell revealed that Blinken helped to orchestrate a letter signed by dozens of national security officials casting doubt on the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The Republicans on the Judiciary Committee issued a statement saying Morell’s testimony revealed Blinken, who was then working for the Biden campaign, “set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement.”

The Democrats hit back at that accusation and published a segment of the transcript of Morell’s testimony to underscore their claim.

“In an effort to smear Secretary Blinken and sensationalize a three-year-old tabloid story, Jim Jordan has released cherry-picked excerpts of a transcribed interview. To be clear, no part of that interview demonstrates that Tony Blinken or any other Biden campaign official asked Mike Morell to write a letter about Hunter Biden’s laptop,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesman in a statement for the Democrats.

“At no point during his interview did Mr. Morell testify that Secretary Blinken directed or asked him to write any letters. Instead, Mr. Morell testified that Mr. Blinken sought his advice, as many others have.,” the statement continued, adding:

In response to questions posed by Chairman Jordan’s own lawyers, he testified that Mr. Blinken did not “direct, suggest, or insinuate in any way” that he should write a letter about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Nor did Mr. Blinken then a private citizen-try to get at the letter indirectly. Mr. Morell testified that Mr. Blinken did not hint that the Biden campaign “could use some help on this” or suggest that Mr. Morell should “cook up something” that the campaign should use.

The statement then included a copy of the transcript from Morell’s interview before the committee:

Jordan’s claims of Blinken’s involvement in the Hunter Biden letter quickly sparked headlines across the media. CBS News’s Catherine Herridge reported on the story for CBS Mornings. She shared the clip on Twitter and wrote, “Days after a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020, Sec. of State Antony Blinken, then a Biden campaign adviser, reached out to a former CIA official + “set in motion the events that led” to a statement from intelligence officials say House Republicans.”

The letter which read, “There are a number of factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement,” was signed by more than 50 former senior intelligence officials on October 19th, 2020 and has since become a major topic of interest on the right.