One of CNN’s moderators for Thursday’s presidential debate, Dana Bash, was married to former CIA Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash, who signed the now-debunked letter claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” Real Clear Investigations, reported Wednesday.
Jeremy Bash, married to Dana Bash from 1998 to 2007, served as the CIA’s chief of staff under Barack Obama from 2009 until 2011. He was one of the 51 former intelligence operatives who signed the “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails,” which labeled the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, including evidence of the Bidens’ dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese energy companies, as Russian disinformation.
Former deputy CIA Director Mike Morell testified that the statement aimed to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election, as revealed by an April 2023 House Judiciary Committee press release. An email from Morell in October 2020 stated, “We want to give the VP a talking point to use in response,” according to a May 2023 House Judiciary Committee report. The statement was released on October 19, 2020, less than a month before the presidential election.
Twitter suspended the New York Post’s account, which broke the Hunter Biden laptop story, and blocked Tweets about the laptop at the time. Despite the former intelligence officials' assertions, media outlets such as the Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Times, Washington Post, and CBS News have verified the laptop's contents. NPR issued a correction in 2021, clarifying that U.S. intelligence had not discredited the laptop story.
In addition to Bash’s connection to Jeremy Bash, CNN’s newsroom includes journalists who echoed the intelligence claims or ignored the story. Jake Tapper, another moderator for Thursday’s debate, did not mention the laptop story on his CNN shows following the New York Post’s report, according to a Fox News analysis. Instead, he featured guests who called the story “Russian disinformation” and a “right-wing conspiracy.”
CNN also hired Natasha Bertrand, a former Politico reporter who promoted the intelligence letter’s “disinformation” claim, to the role of national security correspondent. Bertrand’s story, titled “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say,” remains live on Politico’s site without correction.
