Former Attorney General William P. Barr accused President Biden of lying when he dismissed concerns about his son Hunter Biden’s emails as Russian disinformation during the 2020 presidential campaign.
“I was very disturbed during the debate when candidate Biden lied to the American people about the laptop,” Mr. Barr said in a Fox News interview.
“He’s squarely confronted with the laptop, and he suggested that it was Russian disinformation and pointed to the letter written by some intelligence people that was baseless — which he knew was a lie,” Mr. Barr said. “And I was shocked by that.”
The New York Times last week said emails on Hunter’s laptop had been confirmed by sources familiar with them and the federal investigation into his taxes. The laptop includes a tranche of emails detailing business relationships in Ukraine and China, some of which raise questions about his dad’s role in the deals and potential influence peddling.
During an October 2020 presidential debate, former President Trump suggested the emails on Hunter’s laptop paint candidate Joe Biden as “a corrupt politician,” referring to the computer as “the laptop from hell.”
Mr. Biden pushed back by pointing to a letter from 50 former national intelligence officials who called the laptop a “Russian plant.”
“They have said this has all the characteristics — four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties — say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage,” Mr. Biden said.
The White House last week wouldn’t say if Mr. Biden stands by the Russian disinformation claims.
“I’d point you to the Department of Justice and also to Hunter Biden‘s representatives,” press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday. “He doesn’t work in the government.”