Graham asks 51 intel officials on Hunter laptop letter if they'd still sign it now amid threats to clearances

"In your letter, you claimed that the laptop story was 'Russia trying to influence how Americans vote,'" Graham's letter to former CIA directors Leon Panetta and Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence [DNI] James Clapper and 48 others said.

"I ask you to respond publicly to one simple question: if you knew then what you know now about the laptop, would you still have signed the October 19, 2020 letter?" 

Graham, a Republican, has previously suggested yanking the security clearances of officials who signed the letter. 

"No," Obama-era DNI James Clapper responded. 

Mark Zaid, an attorney representing seven of the signatories, said it was "patriotic" for his clients to sign on to the letter. 

"There continues to be by many a calculated or woefully ignorant interpretation of the October 2020 letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials concerning Hunter Biden's laptop," Zaid said. 

Greg Treverton, a signatory who previously served as chair of the National Intelligence Council, defended the letter in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

The now-infamous letter said their national security experience had made them "deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case."

"If we are right," they added, "this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."

The laptop was introduced into evidence in a Delaware courtroom last week by prosecutor Derek Hines and handed to FBI agent Erika Jensen, who had earlier explained how the FBI authenticated the laptop and extracted data. In Hunter Biden's gun trial, she testified about dozens of text messages, metadata, photos and short videos found on phones and iCloud accounts belonging to Hunter Biden.