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Homeland Security Disbands Group Whose Members Denied Hunter Biden Laptop Story

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


The Biden administration will shut down a national security group located within the Department of Homeland Security, some of whose members denied the Hunter Biden laptop story, in response to a lawsuit from a conservative organization.

The Epoch Times reported Friday that in September 2023, DHS established the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group to offer guidance on intelligence and national security policy. In November, the Trump-aligned America First Legal (AFL) and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell filed a lawsuit against the DHS, the group, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, arguing that the experts’ group violated provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

Section 5 of FACA requires that any advisory committee be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view” while mandating there be provisions to ensure that “the advice and recommendations of the advisory committee will not be inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or by any special interest.”

But the lawsuit argued that “the Experts Group’s members are political allies of the Biden Administration. Most members have applauded the Administration’s decisions and fervidly condemned former President Trump’s America First approach to foreign policy.”

“They have overwhelmingly donated to President Biden or other Democrats. Defendant Mayorkas selected members that are agreeable, not balanced,” it stated.

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Several members of the group were also among the signatories of a letter that dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation, the outlet reported.

The Epoch Times added:

The panel comprised seventeen members when the DHS experts group was first announced. In its lawsuit, AFL stated that these members “do not represent a fair balance of viewpoints.”

Two of the panel members were John Brennan, a former director of the CIA, and James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. Both of them were signatories of the “Letter of 51,” using their intelligence credentials to outrightly dismiss the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election.

Despite the FBI’s validation of the laptop’s authenticity, the letter claimed that the story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Tashina Gauhar, another panel member who is a former associate deputy attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general, is linked to the 2016 Trump–Russia collusion probe, the outlet reported.

She was “extensively involved in the FBI’s corrupt, partisan probe into the baseless allegations that former President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia before the 2016 election, including drafting the FISA applications that were used to spy on the Trump campaign,” the lawsuit said.

Both sides agreed to settle the matter last week, with DHS agreeing to shut down the group within 30 days. The group “will not hold any future meetings, and the Department will not reconstitute the Experts Group inconsistent with the FACA or the Homeland Security Act of 2002,” the joint notice of the agreement stated.

In addition, DHS said it would provide AFL with the group’s meeting agendas and minutes, which have to be submitted within 15 days. “Based on these representations, Plaintiffs have agreed to dismiss their lawsuit with prejudice,” said the joint statement.

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“Thanks to the courage of Ric Grenell in standing up to the Deep State, we have just achieved an unqualified legal victory over Mayorkas and Biden. As a result of our lawsuit in federal court, DHS is surrendering in total to our demands,” said Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal.

The “partisan” experts group “would have been used to promote censored, unethical spying, and gross civil rights invasions of political enemies,” he added.

Among the 17 panel members, 13 have a track record of political contributions, totaling 945 contributions to candidates for political office that are reportable to the Federal Election Commission.

“Of those 945 contributions, 932 (98.62 percent) were made to Democrat candidates for office, while only 12 (1.27 percent) were made to Republican candidates for office,” the lawsuit stated.

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