Half a dozen Republican secretaries of state sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday expressing concern about federal intel officials’ alleged efforts to interfere in the 2020 election to help Joe Biden. The secretaries specifically called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to resign if found guilty of leading the purported effort.
“As the chief election officers of our respective states responsible for running free and fair elections, we have great concern in the findings in the Report of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary that former federal intelligence officials and the Biden Campaign coordinated efforts to intentionally influence the 2020 presidential election by spreading disinformation,” the letter reads.
The document’s signatories include the secretaries of state of Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Missouri, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Released earlier this year, the House Judiciary report referenced by the secretaries included testimony from Michael Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA who signed onto the debunked letter from 51 former intelligence officials that falsely claimed the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. In his testimony, Morell claimed “on or around October 17, 2020,” Blinken — who, at the time, served as a Biden campaign adviser — “reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story,” which had been published in the New York Post on Oct. 14.
According to Morell, Blinken’s outreach “set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement,” baselessly asserting the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. The former CIA official further claimed he had no intention of writing the letter until after he spoke with Blinken, confirming the call “absolutely” pushed him to write it.
In their letter to Congress, the six GOP secretaries of state further expressed their “particular[] concern” over Blinken’s actions, writing that if the Judiciary Committee confirms his role “as stated in the report, we call on Secretary Blinken to resign immediately.”
Morell later asserted the two intentions behind releasing the letter were to share their alleged “concern[s] with the American people that the Russians were playing on this issue” and to “help Vice President Biden.”
“Those former intelligence officials and the presidential campaign actors contributed to the undermining of the American people’s confidence in elections,” the secretaries wrote. “Congress should hold perpetrators accountable and consider all available corrective measures to provide transparency to the public of any improper actions set forth in the Report.”
“Congress must act to prevent and deter such interference in the future,” they added.