President-elect Donald Trump, on Day 1, plans to suspend security clearances of the 51 intelligence officials who claimed reporting tied to Hunter Biden’s laptop had “the classic earmarks” of Russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election, according to a report.
Trump will repeal the clearances of the so-called “Spies Who Lie” as part of a flurry of executive orders he’s expected to sign on his first day back in the Oval Office, Fox News reported, citing a senior administration official familiar with the matter.
Federal authorities eventually confirmed that the laptop belonging to President Biden’s son was authentic, though the national security experts have said they stand by the 2020 letter they penned over their concerns of disinformation.
The Post’s reporting on the laptop leading up to the election between Biden and Trump included allegations of foreign influence-peddling, drug use and other lurid activities by the first son.
Emails from the device, which was left at a Delaware computer shop, showed that younger Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm where Hunter, 54, sat on the board.
A copy of the hard drive was given to The Post, while the computer was handed over to the FBI by the computer shop’s owner in 2019.
Following the bombshell reporting, a slew of former senior intelligence officers signed a letter alleging the lot of emails “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” without presenting any new evidence.
The Post’s reporting on the Bidens was also briefly censored on social media, but the “laptop from hell” was used by federal prosecutors and confirmed as real during Hunter’s gun trial last year.
The FBI also “verified” its authenticity in November 2019, an IRS whistleblower told Congress in a 2023 deposition.
Still, the dozens of former intelligence officials who cast questions over whether the computer’s content was legitimate either stood by their claims or declined comment when reached by Fox News last year.
A lawyer who was representing seven signatories claimed there “continues to be by many a calculated or woefully ignorant interpretation of the October 2020 letter” signed by the ex-officials.
“It served as nothing more than a warning letter of what we have known for decades: certain foreign governments — including Russia — continue to try and actively interfere in our domestic affairs and our guard must remain vigilant,” Mark S. Zaid said at the time.
“Every patriotic American should have signed that letter.”
A Trump official confirmed to The Post on Sunday the incoming president is expected to sign more than 200 executive orders after he is sworn in as president.
An email to a Trump spokesperson on Sunday night was not immediately returned.
Additional reporting by Diana Glebova.
