Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spent the past several decades in the political sphere and has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats despite telling Fox News Monday night that he doesn’t “do politics.”
During an appearance on “Special Report,” Blinken said he doesn’t “engage” in politics while denying having any role in the 2020 letter signed by 51 current and past intelligence officials that aimed to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop as part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
“One of the great benefits of this job is that I don’t do politics and don’t engage in it,” Blinken told Fox News’ Benjamin Hall. “But with regard to that letter, I didn’t – it wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it. And I think the testimony that the former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morrell, put forward confirms that.”
Last month, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell testified to the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees that Blinken, as President Biden’s then-campaign senior adviser, “played a role in the inception” of the public statement signed by intelligence officials claiming Hunter’s abandoned laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign just weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
During an appearance on “Special Report” on May 1, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he doesn’t “engage” in politics while denying having any role in the 2020 letter signed by 51 current and past intelligence officials that aimed to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop as part of a Russian disinformation campaign. (Fox News)
BLINKEN AND WIFE EMAILED FREQUENTLY WITH HUNTER BIDEN, RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT ROLE IN LAPTOP COVER STORY
Fox News Digital reported last week that emails from the infamous abandoned laptop that Blinken sought to discredit show that Hunter has ties to Blinken and his wife, Evan Ryan, dating back over a decade, having scheduled meetings with him while he was on the board of Burisma and Blinken was deputy secretary of state.
Despite saying he doesn’t “do politics,” the secretary has also donated almost $44,000 to Democrats over multiple decades. Most recently, he donated thousands to President Biden’s 2020 campaign, according to FEC records. When he was serving as deputy secretary of state, he donated thousands to Hillary Clinton and Francis Person, another longtime Biden adviser who also has extensive ties to Hunter Biden.
Evan Ryan has donated over $25,000 to Democrats, including thousands supporting Hillary Clinton and was a maxed out donor for Person’s failed congressional campaign in South Carolina.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his wife Evan Ryan arrive for the White House state dinner for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the White House on April 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Fox News)
Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, speaks with fellow guests during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 29, 2023. (Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Blinken reportedly got his start in politics by helping his father raise funds for Michael Dukakis’ failed 1988 presidential campaign. FEC records show he donated $1,000 to Dukakis’ campaign in 1987. He later filled several positions in the Bill Clinton administration, including serving as the senior director for speechwriting at the National Security Council.
In 2002, Blinken worked with then-Sen. Biden as the Democratic staff director for the Foreign Relations Committee. He then worked on Biden’s failed 2008 presidential campaign.
During the Barack Obama administration, Blinken served as national security advisor to Biden and deputy assistant to Obama. He was eventually appointed by Obama as deputy secretary of state in 2015 and later by Biden as secretary of state in 2021 after serving as Biden’s campaign adviser.
Multiple profiles pieces over the years said Blinken has advised Biden on more than just foreign policy in his decades-long friendship with the president and serving as a confidant. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., President Biden’s reelection campaign co-chair, told CNN in 2021 that Blinken “has been a part of Joe’s evolution, learning, and changes as he has confronted challenge after challenge over decades” and that he is “an irreplaceable part of Joe Biden’s inner core team.”
“President Biden is personally close to both Tony Blinken and Evan Ryan and Tony has been an incredibly loyal, capable and effective adviser, staffer and personal friend of the sort that is rare in Washington,” Coons added.
HUNTER BIDEN’S CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DAD’S NEW CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIR REVEALED IN LAPTOP EMAILS
Meanwhile, Blinken’s wife, Evan Ryan, worked in the Bill Clinton White House as a scheduler to Hillary Clinton, before she went on to serve on the Hillary Clinton 2000 senatorial, John Kerry 2004 presidential and Biden 2008 presidential campaigns.
Under the Obama administration, Ryan served as Biden’s assistant, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, and special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement.
Now, Ryan serves as President Biden’s White House cabinet secretary.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Ryan was in frequent contact with Hunter and his business partner Eric Schwerin when she was working in the State Department.
Blinken also held a meeting with Hunter at the State Department in July 2015 when he was serving as the deputy secretary of state and Hunter was on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on as President Joe Biden is greeted by Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park on April 13, 2023, in Dublin, Ireland. Biden traveled to Northern Ireland and Ireland with his sister Valerie Biden Owens and son Hunter Biden to explore his family’s Irish heritage and mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Blinken was asked by Hall on Monday whether he now accepts that Hunter’s abandoned laptop is not a case of Russian disinformation.
“Again, from my perspective, I’m not engaging in politics,” Blinken responded. “I’ve got a lot on my agenda with the things that we’ve just talked about, trying to help the Ukrainians and the Russian aggression against them, engaging with allies and partners around the world, and dealing with some of the challenges posed by China. We have a situation now in Sudan that has fully occupied my time. So that’s where my focus is.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, sent Blinken a letter asking for information about the 2020 letter’s inception as well as people he communicated with about drafting it.
He has until May 4 to turn over any documents and communications.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
During an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” last week, Johnson said Blinken “lied boldface” to Congress, not just about his contact with Hunter, but “so much more.”
“Antony Blinken finally did come in and sit down for a voluntary transcribed interview in December of 2020, because he wanted to be Secretary of State,” Johnson said. “And now, because of more information that’s come out, we know that he lied boldface to Congress about never emailing Hunter Biden. My guess is he told a bunch of other lies that hopefully we’ll be able to bring him and his wife back in, tell them to preserve their records.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“He said he did not email Hunter Biden, and now we have those emails,” the senator continued. “We also know that his wife, using her private email address when she was a[n] employee of the State Department, was basically a conduit between her husband and Hunter Biden as well. So, again, I think there’s so much more to uncover here. There’s so much more investigation. He needs to be subpoenaed. I don’t have subpoena power. He got to come in just voluntarily.”
The State Department declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
