An otherwise routine U.S. Senate hearing took a tense turn when President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, John Ratcliffe, called out Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for allegedly attempting to undermine the first Trump administration with a dossier of misinformation. Ratcliffe, the no-nonsense intelligence officer who advised President Trump in 2020, appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday to argue why his nomination should move forward. He is among the key national security advisors that Republicans hope to confirm by the time Trump is inaugurated on January 20th.
“We’re not where we’re supposed to be,” Ratcliffe stated in his opening remarks. He reminded the audience that Schiff had abused his power when he led a group of 51 former intelligence officers who wrote an open letter dismissing Hunter Biden’s laptop as a “product of Russian disinformation.” He added: “In 2020, when a chairman of an intel committee misrepresented that a laptop owned by Biden’s son was somehow a Russian intel operation, and 51 former intelligence operators used the imprimatur of [intelligence community] authority to go along with that, I stood in the breach. I stood alone and told the American people the truth about that.” Ratcliffe further stated, “I think my record in terms of speaking truth to power and defending the intelligence community and its good work is very clear.” Watch the video below:
?CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe calls out Adam Schiff:
“In 2020, when a chair of an intel committee misrepresented that a laptop owned by Biden’s son was somehow a Russian intel operation…I stood alone and told the American people the truth.” pic.twitter.com/jlRTGPpuXC
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 15, 2025
Schiff, who was elected to the Senate in November after decades in the House, became a key figure in efforts to downplay the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. He and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were found to have coordinated a letter from 51 current and former intelligence officials dismissing the authenticity of the laptop after former New York City Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani discovered it had been abandoned in a repair shop in Delaware.
Despite Trump’s loss in 2020, Republicans regained control of the House and used their investigatory powers to probe further into the laptop and the Democrats’ efforts to minimize its significance. An investigation led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) uncovered records and compelled testimony from figures like former CIA Acting Director Mike Morell, who implicated Blinken, former Obama advisor Leon Panetta, and other signatories of the letter.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.