The newest Democratic selection for the Afghanistan War Commission is an MSNBC pundit who was among dozens of former intelligence officials who signed a letter in October 2020 claiming without evidence that the Hunter Biden laptop story was part of a Russian operation.
The Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Washington Rep. Adam Smith, announced he had picked Jeremy Bash for the Afghanistan investigation Friday, with the biography for Bash noting he served as chief of staff at the Pentagon and chief of staff at the CIA during the Obama administration. Former CIA Director Leon Panetta, for whom Bash worked, also signed the letter.
Bash’s LinkedIn lists himself as the founder of Beacon Global Strategies and as a national security analyst at NBC News and MSNBC.
Despite offering no proof, Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, along with many in the media, dismissed the laptop story as being a Russian disinformation operation. After the New York Post published emails belonging to his son, Joe Biden called the story “garbage” and part of a “Russian plan” during an October 2020 debate with then-President Donald Trump.
Joe Biden was referring to a Politico report about the letter in an article titled “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” The title was misleading because the letter never directly called it Russian “disinformation.”
Bash himself strongly suggested it was “disinformation” on TV, however.
The letter hedged a bit at various times, noting, “We do not have evidence of Russian involvement.” But, it said, “our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.” The letter argues that “if we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election” and expresses “our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue.”
“This looks like Russian intelligence. This walks like Russian intelligence. This talks like Russian intelligence,” Bash claimed on MSNBC on Oct. 19, 2020. “This effort by Rudy Giuliani and the New York Post and Steve Bannon to cook up supposed dirt on Joe Biden looks like a classic Russian playbook disinformation campaign.”
CIA VET WHO SIGNED HUNTER LAPTOP LETTER SAYS HE SARCASTICALLY CLAIMED CREDIT FOR BIDEN WIN
Then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said in October 2020 that there was “no intelligence” to support that the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Bash also called them “mysteriously created emails” and claimed they were “probably hacked through a Russian intelligence operation.” He called it “collusion in plain sight.”
“At a minimum, it’s conspiracy to engage in computer crimes and hacking in violation of criminal laws,” Bash told Rachel Maddow of the emergence of the laptop emails. “It’s also potentially conspiracy to engage in election interference.”
David Buckley, who was formerly the CIA inspector general and also signed the infamous laptop letter, is now the staff director for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The Afghanistan War Commission is tasked with conducting a “comprehensive review of key decisions related to U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan” from June 2001 to August 2021. The commission is supposed to submit a final report within three years of its first meeting, with an unclassified version made public. The commission will have 16 members.
Gen. Tod Wolters of U.S. European Command testified this week about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reasons for deciding to invade, including that “he was attempting to take advantage of fissures that could have appeared in NATO as a result of the post-Afghanistan environment.” Republicans have long connected the disastrous withdrawal to Putin’s decision to invade his neighbor six months later.
The Taliban rapidly took over following a chaotic U.S. military withdrawal last year, and an August suicide bombing at the Kabul airport conducted by the Islamic State group killed 13 U.S. service members.
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Bash strongly supported Joe Biden’s announcement in April 2021 that all U.S. troops would be removed by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“I think this was clearly the right decision by the President of the United States,” Bash said at the time. “This is a decision that was of consequence. It was a historic decision.”
After the disastrous withdrawal, Bash said Aug. 30 that “we have unfinished business in Afghanistan, and just as … the CIA was the first into Afghanistan after 9/11, the intelligence community is going to be the last out.”
He added that “there are so many people in Afghanistan at this hour who still want to get out.”
