Active Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractors ‘colluded’ with the Biden campaign when releasing a statement dismissing Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop as Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election, and the then-CIA chief was in the loop before the statement’s release, according to a joint report released by three House panels. 

‘We knew that the rushed statement from the 51 former intelligence officials was a political maneuver between the Biden campaign and the intelligence community. Now with this interim report, we reveal how officials at the highest levels of the CIA were aware of the statement and CIA employees knew that several of the so-called former officials were on active contract with the CIA. The report underscores the risks posed by a weaponized federal government,’ House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a press release Tuesday.

The House Judiciary Committee, its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a report Tuesday titled, ‘The Intelligence Community 51: How CIA Contractors Colluded with The Biden Campaign to Mislead American Voters.’ 

The report found that active CIA contractors ‘coordinated’ with the Biden campaign just weeks ahead of the 2020 election ‘to discredit serious allegations about Biden family influence peddling’ connected to Hunter’s laptop when 51 alleged former intelligence officials released a statement dismissing the laptop. 

The former intelligence officials released a statement on Oct. 19, 2020, discounting the laptop as having ‘all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,’ in a bid to discredit the New York Post’s bombshell report on the laptop at the time. 

‘The report reveals new information detailing how the highest levels of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), up to and including then-CIA Director Gina Haspel, were made aware of the ‘Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails’ by 51 former intelligence officials prior to its approval and publication,’ the press release says, outlining of Haspel’s likely knowledge of the letter. Haspel served as CIA director from 2018 to 2021 during the Trump administration. 

The CIA’s chief operating officer, Andrew Makridis, testified that he informed Haspel or Deputy Director Vaughn Frederick Bishop about the statement ahead of its release, and the report indicates that CIA chiefs had the opportunity to vet the validity of the statement discrediting the laptop of Russian disinformation. 

The report also included internal CIA emails where intelligence officers lamented the political nature of the statement. 

‘This frustrates me. I don’t think it is helpful to the Agency in the long run. Sigh,’ one unnamed CIA official said in an email on Oct. 20, 2020, a day after Politico published the statement discounting the laptop as disinformation.  

Another unnamed colleague responded to the email, noting that some of the signatories were current CIA contractors. 

‘I also love that at least a few of the random signatures belong to individuals currently working here on contracts…,’ the emailed response reads. 

The 2020 statement was signed by former CIA directors such as John Brennan and Leon Panetta, as well as former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper, in addition to former CIA acting director Michael Morell and former CIA inspector general David Buckley. 

Morell – who helped draft the statement and said it would provide President Biden with a ‘talking point’ in a 2020 presidential debate – was actually a contractor with the CIA when the letter was issued, according to the report. While Buckley was also a contractor at the time of the letter, according to the report, citing CIA documents. 

‘It is extremely concerning that signatories of the Hunter Biden statement were on contract with the CIA at the time of the statement’s drafting, review, and publication. This revelation shows that Morell, Buckley, and likely other signatories were receiving U.S. taxpayer funds while engaged in a politicized project to mislead American voters on behalf of the Biden campaign. Such an overtly political action would be illegal under the Hatch Act for a permanent CIA employee. Congress ought to consider whether to extend this important prohibition to CIA contractors as well,’ the report states. 

The Hatch Act is a federal law that forbids most civilian federal employees, including intelligence community operatives, from engaging in partisan political activities. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House Wednesday morning regarding the report’s findings, but did not immediately receive responses. The CIA told Fox News Digital after this story’s initial publication that the former intelligence officers who signed the letter ‘were not speaking for CIA.’ 

‘CIA officers, as a condition of their employment, are required to sign a secrecy agreement that includes a lifelong obligation to submit any and all intelligence-related materials to CIA’s Pre-Publication Review Board (PCRB) before they are published,’ a CIA spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ‘That process was followed in this case.  The PCRB reviews material to determine if they contain any classified information.  The PCRB’s confirmation that information is unclassified is never an endorsement of the reviewed content or its veracity.  These former officers were not speaking for CIA.’

Biden did use the statement as a ‘talking point’ during his final 2020 debate against President Trump, claiming that the dozens of signatories proved the laptop was Russian propaganda.  

‘There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant,’ Biden said at the time of Trump. ‘Five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except his good friend Rudy Giuliani.’  

The New York Post’s 2020 bombshell report on the contents of Hunter’s laptop was overwhelmingly dismissed by the media in 2020 as ‘Russian disinformation.’ But liberal media outlets changed their tune in 2022 after newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times authenticated thousands of his emails. The laptop hit the public view after Hunter left it at a Delaware repair shop ahead of the 2020 presidential election. 

The laptop re-emerged earlier this month when the first son faced a criminal trial in Delaware over his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while he was reeling from a crack cocaine addiction. The trial, which found Hunter guilty on all counts, formally entered the laptop into evidence and was confirmed by the FBI as legitimate. 

‘The House Intelligence Committee’s work provided us with solid direct evidence that in the final weeks before the 2020 presidential election, 51 former intelligence officials coordinated with the Biden campaign to falsely cast doubt on an explosive New York Post story and label Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop as ‘Russian disinformation.’ The Committee worked to obtain classified documents from the CIA, including emails, and fought to include evidence of these materials in our report,’ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said in a statement on the report.

North Korean troops sent to aid the Russian military in its invasion of Ukraine will be ‘cannon fodder,’ the Pentagon claims.

At a Tuesday press conference, a reporter pressed the Pentagon press secretary, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, to comment on rumors of North Korean construction and engineering corps set to enter Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Ryder did not dispute the possibility of North Korean military personnel entering the region, saying it was ‘certainly something to keep an eye on.’

‘I think that if I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine,’ said Ryder.

South Korean outlet TV Chosun first reported that North Korea was planning to send the engineering corps to occupied Ukraine, citing a South Korean official.

Earlier this month, Russia entered into a defensive pact with North Korea that obligates both nations to defend each other from military adversaries ‘without delay.’

‘If one of the two sides is placed under war situations due to an armed invasion from an individual country or several nations, the other side provides military and other assistance without delay by mobilizing all means in its possession,’ the agreement states.

South Korean officials have been outspokenly critical of the pact, characterizing it as a direct threat to their national security. 

No explicit agreement was published regarding North Korean involvement in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, but President Vladimir Putin thanked supreme leader Kim Jong Un for his ‘unwavering support’ in the conflict.

Putin’s regime has long sought to push the narrative that its invasion of Ukraine is a defensive war, retaking territory that rightfully belongs to Russia.

This characterization – accepted by Kim’s regime – could open the door to justifying North Korean involvement under the mutual defense pact.

An individual in South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office, speaking on background, previously told the press that South Korea will consider providing arms to Ukraine following the pact as a political retaliation.

The leader of New York’s Republican Party celebrated the first ouster of a ‘Squad’ member since the progressive coalition’s inception in 2018, after Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., suffered a double-digit primary defeat to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a pro-Israel moderate Democrat. 

‘Good riddance, Jamaal. Every socialist in Congress and the State Legislature should likewise be rooted out of public office,’ New York GOP Chair Ed Cox said in a statement Wednesday. ‘Jamaal Bowman just faced the consequences of his disgraceful actions. From his childish fire alarm stunt to his blatant anti-Semitic remarks and his latest public meltdown, Bowman has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office.’ 

During his concession speech Tuesday night, Bowman issued an apology for his viral, profanity-laced rally in the Bronx over the weekend, but in doing so, repeated criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel advocacy group that reportedly spent nearly $15 million in an effort to unseat the ‘Squad’ member accused of spewing antisemitic rhetoric. 

‘I want to make an apology, a public apology, for, you know, sometimes using foul language. I’m sorry,’ Bowman told a crowd of supporters following his defeat. ‘But… I think, it is not… how do I want to say this? We should not be well-adjusted to a sick society. We should be outraged. We should be outraged when a super PAC of dark money gets fed $20 million to brainwash people into believing something that isn’t true. We should be outraged about that. We should be outraged when, unfortunately, some so-called Democrats are aligning themselves with radical, racist, right-wing Republicans.’ 

In a post on X, AIPAC, meanwhile, congratulated Latimer ‘on his resounding victory over an anti-Israel detractor.’ 

‘This triumph by a strong pro-Israel candidate represents a major victory for the Democratic mainstream that stands with the Jewish state and a defeat for the extremist fringe,’ AIPAC said. 

‘100% of AIPAC-endorsed Democrats have won so far this cycle,’ the group added in a separate post. ‘Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics!’ 

Bowman’s speech on Tuesday night demonstrated his socialist views and criticism of Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. 

‘We know that it is incumbent upon us, and it is imperative for us to work together in solidarity, in coalition to build a multiracial, multibackground, multiethnic democracy that works for everyone,’ he said. We will never stand for the bombing and killing of babies in Gaza. We will never stand for the killing and bombing of children in the Bronx…. We will never stand for Western imperialism in Honduras or Guatemala or here.’ 

‘We are a union race that believes the end of the forever wars is possible and necessary,’ he added. ‘We will continue to fight to tax the rich. We know the rich need to pay their fair share. We cannot support corporate tax breaks, and we want and demand universal childcare…. And to continue to fight the evils of capitalism, militarism and racism.’ 

Latimer, meanwhile, welcomed his victory with a message of unity. 

‘Tonight we turn a page, and we say that we believe in inclusion of everybody in our representation. That you are included, no matter what your demographic is. Doesn’t matter your age, the color of your skin, your religion, sexual identity, whether you’re a right hander or left hander, whether you’re a Met fan or a Yankee fan,’ Latimer joked. 

‘We go to Washington, we’re one of 435. But we’re not the only one. You know, good men and women in Washington who feel the same way we do, and we have to find each other and link with each other. We have to look at arguments of the far right and the far left and say you cannot destroy this country with your rhetoric and your arguments,’ he said, garnering cheers from the crowd. ‘We have to have unity all across that continuum, and if you hold a strong belief, you still must work with other people don’t share that belief because America hangs in the balance.’ 

While Bowman said he wanted to tax the rich, Latimer told his supporters, ‘I don’t want us to vilify anybody and I see some of that. There are men and women who’ve accomplished things and have resources because of those accomplishments. Let’s make sure that they’re part of what we’re doing instead of being vilified, because we want to have the growth for jobs and for opportunity for everyone.’ 

‘We have to fight to make sure that we do not vilify each other, and that we remember that we’re all Americans, and that our common future is bound together. And if we think that way, that the problems that we see – they’re serious problems, climate change is a serious problem, we have issues to deal with immigration, serious issues – we’re bound together by a common future,’ Latimer said. ‘So we work on those problems together. We argue, we debate, we find a way to come together. This country cannot afford to splinter into little pieces, and every single representative has to understand the necessity for unity so that we can move forward as a nation.’ 

Fox News’ Tamara Gitt contributed to this report. 

President Biden is heading into the first presidential debate with a notably uneasy base of support, according to a new poll.

An Associated Press poll conducted in partnership with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was released on Wednesday, dissecting the public’s attitudes towards the candidates heading into the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday.

Only 42% of Democrat respondents told pollsters that they were satisfied with Biden as their candidate.

By contrast, approximately six in 10 Republicans are satisfied with Trump as their party’s candidate, according to the poll. About three in 10 adults are dissatisfied with both candidates.

Biden has spent the last five days at Camp David in rural Maryland huddling with at least 16 current and former aides, according to The New York Times, while Trump, who spoke with Fox News over the weekend, has held ‘policy discussions’ with allies to prep for what is expected to be an epic clash on the debate stage in CNN’s Atlanta studios.

An old movie theater and airplane hangar have been outfitted as a mock debate stage, where Biden, despite having varying hours and a non-rigid schedule, is preparing to go on the offensive against Trump on issues like immigration and abortion, as well as push back on claims — appearing to be supported by various videos — that he is confused and frail, The Times reported.

Trump jokingly asked the crowd at his Philadelphia rally what his approach should be on the debate stage. 

‘How should I handle him? Should I be tough and nasty, and just say, ‘You’re the worst president in history.’ Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak?’ he asked.

A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released on Tuesday found only 12% of Georgia voters between the ages of 18 and 29 intended to vote for Biden. 

Approximately 37% of those young Georgia voters said they planned to vote for Trump.

While Republicans are more likely to be satisfied with Trump as their candidate than Democrats are satisfied with Biden, the two candidates experience nearly identical levels of positivity and negativity across party lines.

Approximately nine in 10 Democrats expressed negative feelings towards Trump, while nine in 10 Republicans said the same about Biden. 

Approximately seven in 10 Republicans expressed positive feelings about Trump, while a similar seven in 10 Democrats said the same about Biden. 

The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,088 adults selected to be representative of the U.S. population, drawn from the NORC AmeriSpeak Panel. It has a sampling error of +/-4%.

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.