Fox News contributor and former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman reveals why he did not sign a letter from the intelligence community on the Hunter Biden laptop back in 2020. #foxnews

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Now that the steward now that story that We promised at the top of the hour and That Infamous letter that was signed by 51 former intelligence officials days Before the 2020 election casting doubt On the New York Post report on Hunter Biden's laptop former CIA chief of Station uh Dan Hoffman was asked to add His signature explaining for the first Time in an op-ed in the Washington Times Why he said no and Hoffman is a Fox News Contributor and he joins us now Dan this Is my most interesting story of the day I read this op-ed and I thought why Didn't you tell us like a long time ago Here so uh this letter went out we Famously know and here's what the basic Finding was that the hunter Biden laptop Story has quote all the classic earmarks Of a Russian information operation You had this letter circulated to you They asked for your signature you said No why right I remember I got the letter October 18 2020 and at first glance it Seemed natural to lay the blame at the Kremlin's doorstep remember Vladimir Putin is in the Kremlin and he's well Known for Cloak and Dagger Espionage Operations but at the same time there Was no evidence and the letter noted There was no evidence and I just felt Like we needed to do the forensics it Was a very convoluted story folks will Recall that there was a laptop found at

A store in Delaware and I remembered at CIA when we didn't have all the answers We would task our sources to get more Information so we could be more Definitive and I felt like in this case The FBI could do those forensics and it Was not up to us to speculate so I Didn't sign the letter I typically don't Put my name to other people's words my Wife was in her uh late in her third Year of fighting cancer and I didn't Have the time to go back to Michael Morell and ask him what the point was About the letter so I just left it and Didn't sign letter and didn't respond And we are still to this day so sorry For the loss of you dear wife Um you said a second ago that this Didn't invite further inquiry which is What you're right about in the Washington Times op-ed you say but the Email I received from Mr Morrell did not Invite any further discussion or debate The letter was a pheticon plea it was Being passed around for signatures not Edits I've never been one to put my name Towards someone else wrote on my behalf So this thing was cooked and he was just Looking for signatures and he you could Have been number 52 but you said in the Break that there were a lot more as well People who didn't sign on to it right There were many others who who didn't Sign it look when I was at CIA we would

Sit in Michael morel's office uh when we Had a particularly difficult challenging Intelligence issue and we would hash out All the evidence that we had the Intelligence we had and then Michael Would draw analytical conclusions with Some level of confidence low medium or High and bring it to the White House we Didn't have that debate about this Laptop issue we weren't invited to Debate it and I also felt like I was Somebody who was A Rush of hand I spent Many many years focused on Russia and uh I was a little surprised that I and Others who had that same experience Weren't involved in even discussing Whether such a letter was was worth Writing now during the debate the one Debate of the 2020 election campaign uh Now President Biden then candidate Biden Said as we showed at the top of this 50 Intelligence Officers sign on to this Letter saying was classic Russian Disinformation campaign you write in Your op-ed the American public should be Careful to distinguish between retired And actively serving U.S Intelligence Officers explain Well the part that I didn't know and I'm Assuming that that my former colleagues Who signed the letter probably didn't Know either was that Michael Morrell had Discussed the laptop issue with then Campaign advisor Tony blinken so Michael

Was aware of the campaign's interest and There's a straight line from that to the Letter to the debate and the comment From from then candidate uh Biden about The about the laptop and so the point That I made in the op-ed is look if You're serving actively at the CIA we Vote but look we serve under presidents For whom we voted and those for whom we Didn't when I served in Iraq uh look There half of us probably voted for President Bush and the other half didn't It doesn't matter we're focused on our Sacred mission of recruiting spies and Stealing secrets and delivering the best Analytical uh conclusions we can to the President and that's what we do but Retired Intelligence Officers who wish To engage politically can do so as long As they don't uh reveal classified Intelligence they're free to speak their Mind uh and that's that's their choice Um and it carries with it all of the Implications uh for them because they're Going to have to defend their their Public statements and and that's what We're seeing right now well I'll tell You your op-ed is eye-opening there's no Question about that everybody who's Interested in this should read it I want To ask you quickly before we go about Evan gerskovich because the bite Administration has placed sanctions on The FSB three major newspapers The Wall

Street Journal the New York Times And The Washington Post all took out full Page ads calling for his release is any Of this going to put the amount of Pressure on Putin necessary to get Evan Released no it's counterintuitive but Vladimir Putin loves this he wants the Sanctions he wants the demands that we Release and because it just drives up The price that Vladimir Putin is going To demand in return and remember from The past that uh Brittany Greiner was Released in return for The Merchant of Death Victor Boot and so what I'm Thinking based on my experience is that Vladimir Putin sees one of his Intelligence Officers in illegal that's A deep cover Uh Russian military Intelligence officer Sergey chairkasov Who was recently detained in Brazil was Using a false identity graduated from Johns Hopkins school of advanced International studies and was on his way To the Hague for an internship at the International criminal court so that's a Good bit of operational success for Vladimir Putin well he's been detained In the United States has requested his Extradition and so I think out on the Horizon probably Vladimir Putin sees That he might want to make a trade and That's why I think Evan was detained uh Wrongly obviously on charges of Espionage because Vladimir Putin sees

Two pawns on the chessboard and he's Going to want to make a trade all right So Evan is the chip for chickasive right Dan it was great to get inside from you On this again would you wait two years I'll tell you what you know it was the Testimony to that Michael Morrell gave At the Judiciary Committee when this Issue was was Revisited again and that's The part that changed the calculus I Think not just for me but for others as Well all right well it's great it's Great to read it and again everybody at Home should read it in the Washington Times today Dan as always thanks so much All right I'm Steve Ducey I'm Brian Kilmeade and I'm Ainsley Earhart and Click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest Interviews and most compelling analysis