The official, Douglas Wise, was one of 51 former intelligence officials who said the Post's report had the appearance of a Russian disinformation campaign.

"All of us figured that a significant portion of that content had to be real to make any Russian disinformation credible," in a comment to The Australian. "The letter said it had the earmarks of Russian deceit and we should consider that as a possibility," he continued.

"It did not say Hunter Biden was a good guy, it didn't say what he did was right and it wasn't exculpatory, it was just a cautionary letter."

Except, the letter concluded that "It is high time that Russia stops interfering in our democracy," and referenced "[o]ur view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue."

The Oct. 19 letter — whose signatories included former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan — went out of its way to cast doubt on the legitimacy of The Post's scoop, devoting five paragraphs to explaining "factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement" while slipping in the caveat that "we do not know if the emails … are genuine or not and … we do not have evidence of Russian involvement." -NY Post

And as Jonathan Turley notes,

The infamous letter from the former intel officials (including such Democratic figures like John Brennan, James Clapper, Leon Panetta and Jeremy Bash) was used by the media to assure the public that there was nothing to see in the scandal. It was the perfect deflection in giving a cooperative media cover to bury the story of how the Biden family engaged in influence peddling worth millions with foreign figures, including some with foreign intelligence connections.