America First Legal (AFL) just dropped a bombshell announcement on the Biden campaign.
AFL has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), charging Biden with a campaign finance violation for an alleged in-kind donation during the 2020 campaign season.
The charges against Biden in the complaint focus on the letter from the 51 former intelligence agency officials that stated the Hunter Biden laptop story had all the signs of Russian disinformation.
AFL alleges that this was a "coordinated communication" and an unreported "in-kind" donation to the Biden campaign.
The complaint, in part, stated:
"[The] evidence suggests that the respondents failed to disclose coordinated expenditures constituting in-kind donations with respect to the infamous' Letter of 51' former intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story had 'all the classic earmarks' of Russian disinformation."
That letter was released only weeks before the election and just prior to the presidential debate between Biden and Trump. Biden even referred to the letter to counter the Trump claim regarding the laptop during that debate.
Among those who signed the letter were former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Former George W. Bush DNI Michael Hayden, a vocal Trump critic, also signed the letter.
The House Judiciary found:
"Morell testified that his communication with Blinken was one of a few communications he had with the Biden campaign, explaining that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, Chairman of the Biden campaign, following the October 22 debate to thank him for writing the statement.
"Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-[former] Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election."
The complaint continued:
"There are reasons to believe that the public statement by 51 former intelligence officials was a coordinated political operation to help elect Vice President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as set forth below."
Reed D. Rubinstein, senior counselor and director of oversight and investigations for America First Legal, noted this was not the first time that there was a coordinated effort on the Democrat side of the aisle to stop Trump.
He stated:
"In 2016, high-ranking federal intelligence officials interfered in a presidential election, lying about Russia collusion in a failed effort to elect Hilary Clinton."
Rubinstein then called for the FEC to act on this complaint:
"In 2020, many of these same officials again interfered in a presidential election, lying about Hunter Biden.
"The Federal Election Commission's charge includes election integrity — Americans have the right to know who is coordinating with federal candidates. But this right is only as effective as the agency that enforces it. The FEC must act here."
The letter itself is not new information, but the narrative pitched here is an entirely new and different angle than we have seen in the past.
Furthermore, based on the communications we have seen regarding the letter, this complaint has a very good chance of being successful.
Individuals who organized and signed this letter made it quite clear it was to help Joe Biden in the election and, more specifically, in the debate against Trump.
To me, the smoking gun in all of this is that not a single one of them ever examined the information on the laptop but instead guessed as to whether or not this was Russian disinformation or not.
Considering they were all openly supporting Biden and/or had donated to his campaign, this is a legitimate complaint.
I am sure the White House will dismiss this as complete and utter nonsense, but they would be well-advised to see how the FEC treats before making any statements.
