New White House debt ceiling negotiator Ricchetti played big role in Hunter Biden laptop ruse

One of two advisers President Biden appointed Tuesday to his White House debt-ceiling negotiating team is Steve Ricchetti, who also played a big role in helping organize the 2020 letter that falsely portrayed Hunter Biden's laptop as Russian disinformation.

The letter was an apparent attempt to influence the 2020 election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden, Hunter's father, over incumbent GOP President Donald Trump. 

The letter was signed by 51 former members of the U.S. intelligence community and stated they believed the news story about the discovery of the laptop – that included content about the first son's questionable overseas business dealings – was disinformation, despite having no intelligence leading them to that conclusion. 

Richetti's connection was revealed in a transcribed interview by the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee with Michael Morell, a former CIA deputy director.

"Morell testified that his communication with [Antony] Blinken was one of a few communications he had with the Biden campaign, explaining that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, following the October 22 [presidential] debate to thank him for writing the statement," the committee said in an April 20 release.