Trump lawyer demands CIA take action against ex-agents who called Hunter Biden laptop disinformation

The attorney for former President Donald Trump is demanding the CIA take "immediate legal action" against the 43 former agency employees who signed a letter in October 2020 saying Hunter Biden's laptop was not authentic and part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The laptop from President Joe Biden's son and its contents showing questionable actions from the Biden family were proven to be authentic more than a year after the election.

"Media outlets used this purportedly credible intelligence assessment as a justification to not report on the story. Some polls show that up to 17% of people who voted for President Biden would not have if they knew about the contents of the laptop at the time," attorney Timothy Parlatore wrote in a letter obtained by Just the News to the CIA's Prepublication Classification Review Board Chairman, John Hedley.

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that these former intelligence officials changed the outcome of the election through knowingly flagrant misconduct," Parlatore said in his 12-page letter.

One of the letter's CIA signatories, John Sipher, said in March, "I take special pride in personally swinging the election away from Trump. You’re welcome." He quickly followed up that he was using "sarcasm."

Parlatore wrote the letter to Headley because his agency, the PCRB, is mandated to oversee the publication of letters such as the one signed by the 43 former CIA employees.

"[I]t is beyond apparent not only that the letter did not undergo the mandatory PCRB review but that it further used violative behavior that could have threatened national security and attempted to play upon the nation's trust in its intelligence agencies to support a political talking point," Parlatore noted. 

The attorney observed that the letter lacked the disclaimer required on all PCRB-reviewed publications, which states that the opinions are those of the author, not the CIA or any other federal agency. Parlatore said the missing disclaimer along with the quick publication of the letter shows that the employees did not comply with their legal obligations to the CIA.

He said that former employees' actions "is a blatant desecration of the trust placed in the intelligence community by the American people."

Parlatore said "immediate legal action" must be taken by the CIA against the 43 employees "who violated their obligations to seek review and approval from the PCRB before releasing their letter."

Trump's attorney concluded, "The CIA must act to preserve its rules and regulations and to restore its reputation, which has been so badly besmirched by these former officials."