How Involved is Antony Blinken in the Biden Laptop Scandal?

After an Exhaustive Search, New Connections Emerge

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Part I:

A recent press release from the offices of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Intel Committee Chairman Mike Turner revealed an incredible discovery in the Hunter Biden laptop debacle. The press release revolved around testimony from Michael Morrell, the former Deputy Director of the CIA. Morrell was also intricately involved in the creation of the debunked “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails.”

Last week, from an email obtained by Just The News, we learned that Morrell had asked former Obama CIA Director John Brennan to sign onto the letter in order to “give the campaign, particularly during the debate on Thursday, a talking point to push back on Trump on this issue.” Brennan responded to add his name to the list and “good initiative.” In the Marine Corps and throughout the US military, we have a saying: “Good initiative, bad judgement.” This subversion of truth for a political “talking point” is not a “good initiative” and is riddled with “bad judgment.” It is a disgusting use of a prestigious former title to influence the American people by obfuscating a serious issue that suggests foreign corruption involving the family of the now “President” of the United States, and likely the “President” himself.

But it seems as though there is more to this story.

We learned another important detail from that press release: it was “revealed that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, then the senior advisor to the Biden campaign, was the impetus of the public statement” and that the Biden campaign called Morrell to thank him after the debates:

 

Despite the questionable ethics in recruiting crony former intel officers from previous administrations to mislead the American people with a now-uncovered specific intention of giving Joe a “talking point”, there may still be deeper ties between Blinken, this letter, and a non-profit organization.

Michael Shellenberger posted a “Twitter Files” thread on December 19, 2022 where he uncovered a “hack-and-dump” operation that was conducted as a “tabletop” exercise by the Aspen Institute, two months prior to the 2020 election. Much like the World Health Organization ran Event 201, a think tank that game-planned pandemic scenarios strikingly similar to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the Aspen Institute’s “Hack-and-Dump” exercise revolved around the handling of information. Ironically (or not), it revolved around information dumped in relation to Hunter Biden's leaked emails.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, “Aspen Digital, an arm of the liberal Aspen Institute, in September 2020 convened a working group of social media executives, journalists, and academics to develop a coverage strategy for a hypothetical “hack and dump” of Hunter Biden’s emails.”

Garrett Graff, the Director of Cyber Initiatives at Aspen Digital, published an article for Wired just a week before Miranda Devine’s explosive, and heavily censored, article in New York Post. Graff’s article was a playbook for how the media should respond to an “October Surprise”. The byline of the article, given those in attendance of their “event”, sounds more like marching orders than an informative piece: “The media knows it screwed up in 2016 with John Podesta. Here’s how it should do better in the final weeks of the 2020 race.”

It gets even more interesting. We now know that Antony Blinken has close ties to the Aspen Institute through his membership with the Aspen Strategy Group. The extent, however, is unclear as much of this seems to have been outright scrubbed from the internet. Literally: scrubbed.

About the only relation between Blinken and the Aspen Institute online still is a publication by the Aspen Strategy Group titled “American Purpose” that lists Blinken as “Staff Director, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

AI to the Rescue

Badlands Media co-founder and investigative journalist Jon Herold took to ChatGPT to help with a stymied research initiative. He started by establishing that ChatGPT’s “knowledge cutoff” is “September 2021.” This means, according to ChatGPT that “I am not aware of any changes that have occurred after my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, including changes to websites or the removal of information from the internet.”

Given that baseline, Herold then asked ChatGPT “When were Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken both former members of the Aspen Strategy Group?” ChatGPT responded that Harris has not been a former member, but that Blinken “has been a member of the Aspen Strategy Group since at least 2017.”

When asked for sources, ChatGPT gave a link to Aspen Institute’s website for Aspen Strategy Group, which had no published ties. However, the AI bot also mentioned that “additionally, multiple news sources have reported on Blinken’s participation in the Aspen Strategy Group, including CNN, The New York Times, and Politico.”

This is where it gets downright strange. Herold then asked ChatGPT to provide him with the links. The first three links were for CNN, NYT, and Politico. All three were “404 not found.” Then Herold searched all of the archive sites he could possibly find. Nothing.

When asked to provide more sources, ChatGPT spit out three more articles from Bloomberg, Reuters, and Foreign Policy. All three were “404 not found.” None of them were archived.

Herold told ChatGPT that the links were “404 not found”. ChatGPT quickly apologized and said “Here are some updated links to articles that mention Blinken’s membership in the Aspen Strategy Group:” referencing articles by The Hill, NYT, and CNN again. Again, “404 not found” and no archives.

In total, ChatGPT spit out 13 articles regarding Antony Blinken’s ties to the Aspen Strategy Group and all 13 came back “404 not found” with no archives of any of them. That’s odd considering the WayBack Machine archives all of those websites mentioned above numerous times each and every day (Note: ALL 13 articles searched are linked at the bottom of this article).

Seemingly hitting a brick wall, Herold then asked ChatGPT if it could “provide the full text of this article www.newsweek.com/antony-blinken-bidens-pick-secretary-state-connected-aspen-strategy-group-1550906.”

ChatGPT obliged:

 

The next article ChatGPT was asked to share the text from was a Politico piece published on November 23, 2020. It stated:

 

One of two things is now apparent: either ChatGPT is wildly inaccurate and made up the links and the text regarding Blinken’s association, which is absolutely possible, or Antony Blinken was a recent member of the Alpine Strategy Group. Considering ChatGPT’s “knowledge cut off” of Sept. 2021, it is unlikely the AI bot is giving inaccurate information. Aspen Institute’s listed Form 990s dating back to 2013 do not show any relation with Antony Blinken as a “member.”  But again, from Aspen Institute's own publication, "American Purpose", we know that Blinken was a "Staff Director" at the organization.

The obfuscation of any information connecting the Aspen Institute and Antony Blinken is concerning, especially when considering the Aspen Institute led a workshop that strategized a Hunter Biden “Hack and Dump” just months before his actual laptop and emails were disclosed. However, what is also concerning is a grant award that took place almost exactly one year after the “Hack and Dump.”

On September 1, 2021, the State Department awarded the Aspen Institute a $10.3 million grant for “Professional and Cultural Exchange Programs - Citizen Exchanges.” This grant is the first awarded to the institute in over 10 years by the State Department. The last and only two other State Department grants were on 9/25/2010 and 11/24/2010 for $148,500 and $297,000, respectively. This recent grant is more than 23 times the total amount of previous grants received in the last 11 years from the State Department to the Aspen Institute.

To summarize, Antony Blinken is reported to be the “impetus” behind the 51 former intel officers’ letter that labeled the Hunter Biden laptop as having all the “earmarks” of classic Russian disinformation. We know Michael Morrell drafted this letter to give Joe Biden “talking points” in his debate against Trump. Blinken further had some relationship, although unclear to what extent, with the organization that put together a workshop outlining how to handle a Hunter Biden “Hack and Dump”. Then, when Joe Biden “won”, Blinken was appointed Secretary of State and his State Department awarded the Aspen Institute with a grant 23 times larger than the only other two grants they’d received from the State Dept previously.

And despite a concerted effort to scrub any relationship details from the internet, ChatGPT exposed it all.

Stay Tuned for Part II...

A list of all 13 "404" articles sourced by ChatGPT (which retained a full-text of each article due to its Sept 2021 "knowledged cut off"):

Note:  even a search of the articles titles yielded no results on the websites.

• CNN: "Biden's top State Department picks have a history with him and with each other" (December 22, 2020) - https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/22/politics/biden-state-department-picks-blinken-sullivan-sherman/index.html

• The New York Times: "Biden Cabinet: Who Has Been Selected and Who Is in the Running" (December 7, 2020) - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/politics/biden-cabinet.html

• Politico: "Biden's national security team takes shape" (November 24, 2020) - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/24/biden-national-security-team-takes-shape-440156

• Bloomberg: "Biden's National Security Team Takes Shape With Chris Inglis, Wendy Sherman" (November 24, 2020) - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-24/biden-s-national-security-team-takes-shape-with-chris-inglis-wendy-sherman

• Reuters: "Biden names Blinken as secretary of state nominee" (November 23, 2020) - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-state/biden-names-blinken-as-secretary-of-state-nominee-idUSKBN2832GE

• Foreign Policy: "Antony Blinken’s Delicate Balancing Act" (January 25, 2021) - https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/25/antony-blinken-secretary-state-senate-confirmation-hearing-balancing-act/

• The Hill: "Biden taps Blinken to lead State Department, McDonald for Veterans Affairs" (November 23, 2020) - https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/527044-biden-taps-blinken-to-lead-state-department-mcdonald-for-veterans

• The New York Times: "Antony Blinken, Secretary of State Nominee, Has Advocated for Tougher Russia Stance" (November 23, 2020) - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/us/politics/antony-blinken-secretary-of-state.html

• CNN: "Biden announces Antony Blinken as secretary of state" (November 23, 2020) - https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics/antony-blinken-secretary-of-state/index.html

• The New York Times: "Biden Fills Top White House Roles with Campaign Veterans and Obama Aides": https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/us/politics/biden-white-house-obama.html

• Foreign Policy: "Biden's Likely Secretary of State Pick is a Warning to the World": https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/23/biden-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-warning-to-the-world/

• Politico: "Biden's Top Diplomat Has Close Ties to the President's New Favorite Think Tank": https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/23/antony-blinken-aspen-strategy-group-439514

• The Hill: "Biden's New National Security Adviser: 'Good Guys Don't Always Wear White Hats'": https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/526946-bidens-new-national-security-adviser-good-guys-dont-always-wear-white