Pompeo: no reason to believe Hunter Biden story is Russian disinformation

Mike Pompeo has ‘every reason to believe’ director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe’s assessment that the recent story about Hunter Biden and his emails is not the product of Russian disinformation.

Asked about #HunterBiden laptop/emails, @SecPompeo said he saw @DNI_Ratcliffe's statement about the intelligence community assessment

Sign up for Culture Shock

A newsletter from Amber Athey bringing you stories from the front lines of the culture wars.

"I have every reason to believe he's got it exactly right" Pompeo said of @ODNIgov's Ratcliffe

— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 21, 2020

‘I have every reason to believe he’s got it exactly right,’ the secretary of state said during a Wednesday press briefing in response to a question from The Spectator.

The New York Post‘s report contains emails purportedly from Hunter Biden in which he discusses setting up meetings between foreign business associates and vice president Joe Biden. At least 50 former intelligence officials and former US ambassadors have declared publicly that they believe the Post’s story is part of a Russian influence campaign. Cable news pundits have repeated this claim without evidence to undermine the story.

[special_offer]

However, DNI Ratcliffe said that he has seen no intelligence to back up these conclusions. Reports on Tuesday indicated that the FBI and DOJ concur with Ratcliffe’s assessment.