If any reasonable, thinking American doubted the existence of a "deep state" before Donald Trump became president, they were treated to a four-year object lesson in just how real it is.
Trump, the ultimate outsider candidate who had no political skeletons, was too popular to be canceled, and could not be bought off because he was already a billionaire, rankled and frightened the powerbroker elite in Washington because he really did believe in his "America First" agenda that they will never accept because they profit off of selling America out.
As such, the deep state went after Trump with a vengeance that was unprecedented against a president, even prior Republicans like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, the latter of whom is fully ensconced in the elitist D.C. power structure. The intelligence community came together like never before to spread lies about Trump, drop false narratives and plant fake stories that were eagerly parroted by the legacy left-wing media that serves as little more than the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.
To emphasize just how hard the deep state went after Trump, he became the first president to be impeached twice, and on the flimsiest of reasons, though both times the Senate refused to convict him.
The final act of the politically weaponized deep state, however, came just a few weeks prior to the 2020 election in November.
In mid-October, the New York Post, citing emails, photos and other materials found on a laptop Hunter Biden had abandoned at a computer repair shop in Delaware in 2019, published a series of bombshell reports detailing what a scumbag he is and how he used his father's connections to land lucrative business deals and positions with foreign governments and companies, with a kickback percentage going to Daddy Joe.
While Big Tech and Big Media colluded to censor and discredit the reports, 51 officials within the deep state intelligence community gave them cover by signing a letter claiming that, while they did not know for sure, it appeared that the details contained in The Post's reporting had 'all the hallmarks' of a "Russian disinformation campaign."
But in fact, The Post's reporting was based on legitimate factual information gleaned from Biden's laptop and the intelligence community 'experts' knew that. But their objective was to get rid of Trump and derail his MAGA agenda, a goal shared with an eager-to-be-duped media that wanted Trump gone because they just didn't like his conservative America-first agenda.
It was only after the election and Joe Biden had been safely installed in the White House that some media outlets began to confirm The Post's original reporting. Politico did last year; The New York Times did so just last week in a report noting that Hunter Biden remains under investigation by the Justice Department for potential violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) and tax fraud.
By the way, The Post followed up with those 51 now-former intelligence community officials, and in an editorial published earlier this week, the paper noted that it had tried to contact all of them to see if they had any remorse for claiming -- falsely -- that Biden's laptop may have been Russian disinfo.
None did.
Here is the list, per The Post:
Mike Hayden, former CIA director, now analyst for CNN: Didn’t respond.
Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence, now CNN pundit: “Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph. I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”
Leon Panetta, former CIA director and defense secretary, now runs a public policy institute at California State University: Declined comment.
John Brennan, former CIA director, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.
Thomas Fingar, former National Intelligence Council chair, now teaches at Stanford University: Didn’t respond.
Rick Ledgett, former National Security Agency deputy director, now a director at M&T Bank: Didn’t respond.
John McLaughlin, former CIA acting director, now teaches at Johns Hopkins University: Didn’t respond.
Michael Morell, former CIA acting director, now at George Mason University: Didn’t respond.
Mike Vickers, former defense undersecretary for intelligence, now on board of BAE Systems: Didn’t respond.
Doug Wise, former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, teaches at University of New Mexico: Didn’t respond.
Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center director, now executive director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism: Didn’t respond.
Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center acting director: “The letter explicitly stated that we didn’t know if the emails were genuine, but that we were concerned about Russian disinformation efforts. I spent 25 years as a Soviet/Russian analyst. Given the context of what the Russians were doing at the time (and continue to do — Ukraine being just the latest example), I considered the cautionary warning to be prudent.”
Andy Liepman, former National Counterterrorism Center deputy director: “As far as I know I do [stand by the statement] but I’m kind of busy right now.”
John Moseman, former CIA chief of staff: Didn’t respond.
Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff, now senior advisor to The Chertoff Group:
Didn’t respond.
Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, now analyst for NBC and MSNBC: Didn’t respond.
Rodney Snyder, former CIA chief of staff: Didn’t respond.
Glenn Gerstell, former National Security Agency general counsel: Didn’t respond.
David Priess, former CIA analyst and manager: “Thank you for reaching out. I have no further comment at this time.”
Pam Purcilly, former CIA deputy director of analysis: Didn’t respond.
Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Chris Savos, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
John Tullius, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
David A. Vanell, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Kristin Wood, former CIA senior intelligence officer, now non-resident fellow, Harvard: Didn’t respond.
David Buckley, former CIA inspector general: Didn’t respond.
Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst and targeting officer, now senior fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute: Didn’t respond.
Patty Brandmaier, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
James B. Bruce, former CIA senior intelligence office: Didn’t respond.
David Cariens, former CIA intelligence analyst: Didn’t respond.
Janice Cariens, former CIA operational support officer: Didn’t respond.
Paul Kolbe, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Peter Corsell, former CIA analyst: Didn’t respond.
Brett Davis, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Roger Zane George, former national intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Steven L. Hall, former CIA senior intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Kent Harrington, former national intelligence officer: Didn’t respond.
Don Hepburn, former national security executive, now president of Boanerges Solutions LLC: “My position has not changed any. I believe the Russians made a huge effort to alter the course of the election . . . The Russians are masters of blending truth and fiction and making something feel incredibly real when it’s not. Nothing I have seen really changes my opinion. I can’t tell you what part is real and what part is fake, but the thesis still stands for me, that it was a media influence hit job.”
Timothy D. Kilbourn, former dean of CIA’s Kent School of Intelligence Analysis: Didn’t respond.
Ron Marks, former CIA officer: Didn’t respond.
Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, now on board of the International Spy Museum: “I don’t have any comment. I would need a little more information.”
Emile Nakhleh, former director of CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, now at University of New Mexico: “I have not seen any information since then that would alter the decision behind signing the letter. That’s all I can go into. The whole issue was highly politicized and I don’t want to deal with that. I still stand by that letter.”
Gerald A. O’Shea, former CIA senior operations officer: Didn’t respond.
Nick Shapiro, former CIA deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to the director: Didn’t respond.
John Sipher, former CIA senior operations officer: Declined to comment.
Stephen Slick, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs:
Didn’t respond.
Cynthia Strand, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues: Didn’t respond.
Greg Tarbell, former CIA deputy executive director: Didn’t respond.
David Terry, former National Intelligence Collection Board chairman: Couldn’t be reached.
Greg Treverton, former National Intelligence Council chair, now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “I’ll pass. I haven’t followed the case recently.”
Winston Wiley, former CIA director of analysis: Couldn’t be reached.
Sources include:
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