Several Republican secretaries of state are calling on Congress to address their concerns about interference in the 2020 election by federal intelligence officials to support President Joe Biden — specifically demanding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken resign if he is found guilty of leading the interference effort.
On Wednesday, the Secretaries of State of Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Missouri, West Virginia, and Wyoming sent a letter to Congress about the issue in their capacities as the chief election officers of their states.
On July 12, Secretary Gray joined other Secretaries of State in calling on Congress to continue its investigation into the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in the weeks preceding the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/fyp6cnATd9
— Wyoming Secretary of State's Office (@WyomingSOS) July 14, 2023
“As the chief election officers of our respective states responsible for running free and fair elections, we have great concern in the findings in the Report of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary that former federal intelligence officials and the Biden Campaign coordinated efforts to intentionally influence the 2020 presidential election by spreading disinformation,” the letter states.
The report being referenced in the letter included testimony from former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell — who famously organized the letter from 51 former intelligence officials falsely attesting to the debunked claim that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, despite the fact that the laptop had already been authenticated by the intel agencies at the time. Morell testified that “on or around October 17, 2020,” then-Biden campaign advisor Blinken had “reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story,” which the New York Post had published just three days earlier.
The former CIA deputy director went on to state that his contact with Blinken “set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement” that falsely claimed the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign — which arguably helped Biden win the election through discrediting a story that would have devastated his campaign.
Morell also noted that he had no intention to write that infamous letter until his conversation with Blinken — admitting that the call from the then-Biden campaign official had “absolutely” pushed him to write it. He then acknowledged that he had written the letter to “help Vice President Biden.”
The six Republican secretaries of state went on in their letter to discuss their “particular concern” about Blinken’s actions — arguing that if what is “stated in the report” is confirmed true, “we call on Secretary Blinken to resign immediately.”
“Those former intelligence officials and the presidential campaign actors contributed to the undermining of the American people’s confidence in elections,” the secretaries of state added. “Congress should hold perpetrators accountable and consider all available corrective measures to provide transparency to the public of any improper actions set forth in the Report.”
“Congress must act to prevent and deter such interference in the future,” they continued.
