Appearing on the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures last week, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and host Maria Bartiromo discussed his previous appearance on Mornings WIth Maria, where he confirmed China’s meddling in the 2020 presidential election.
Ratcliffe reiterated that key enemies of the United States–Russia, China, and Iran–all wanted a Biden presidency, no doubt recognizing his feebleness and weakness. Since Biden's inauguration, those feelings have translated to all three becoming more robust and more of a threat to national security.
Bartiromo addressed a newly declassified report from the National Intelligence Council, which confirmed what Ratcliffe previously told her and revealed the extent to which the Chinese Communist Party is operating under Biden’s “watch.”
The report, Bartiromo said, revealed:
“We assess that these directives gave PRC [People’s Republic of China] influence actors more freedom to operate ahead of the midterms than the presidential election in 2020, probably because PRC officials believe that Beijing was under less scrutiny during the midterms and because they did not expect the current administration to retaliate as severely as they feared they would in 2020.”
“Is China,” Bartioromo asked, “ready to interfere in our elections in 2024?”
Ratcliffe replied, “Very clearly they are, Maria. But what the report also tells you is what you outlined there, which is that the intelligence community has to grudgingly walk back the erroneous assessment that in 2020, China was sitting on the sidelines.”
He continued, “Look, I was very vocal that we had collected specific intelligence of a specific plan or campaign by China to interfere in 2020 for the specific purpose of helping Joe Biden become president and–to harm President Trump in his reelection efforts.”
Ratcliffe said the report confirms that is exactly what happened in 2020 and believes it will happen again in 2024.
“And what this report acknowledges is that’s exactly what happened. And they had to walk it back because the independent ombudsman came forward and said, look, there were analysts for China that were suppressing intelligence deliberately because they feared it would help President Trump,” Ratcliffe said.
“And so now you have Joe Biden’s own Director of the NSA and head of cyber command, acknowledging that China is going to intensify those efforts in 2024,” which he said shows that China, which he describes as “our greatest geopolitical foe has and will continue to want Joe Bidden to be the president for the next four years.”
Ratcliffe explained the reason for this is obvious, noting that “he’s [Biden] been very good to China. China wanted him in the first place because Donald Trump had been so tough in terms of trade and tariff sanctions against China.”
“China correctly believed that Joe Biden would be more pro-China and frankly thought that he would be weaker as a Commander in Chief. And clearly, those things have played out,” Ratcliffe said.
Bartiromo then circled over to the situation in Taiwan, noting that when Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jaoping in San Francisco this fall, Xi was forthright in telling Biden that yes, “we are taking Taiwan, and we are expecting you’re not going to do anything about it.”
“Your thoughts on what was said during that meeting in the park?” Bartiromo asked Ratcliffe.
“You know, the same Joe Biden and the administration that won’t confront China on Covid wouldn’t confront China on the spy balloon. And these are the reasons why Joe Biden is, in many ways, the dream candidate for China to continue for the next four years,” Ratcliffe said.
“They’ve advanced so much, they’ve undermined us in the Middle East. They’ve gained footholds further in the Asian Pacific regions. Everything has gone well for China from their foreign policy standpoint, and it’s gone poorly for us.”
Ratcliffe warned that what comes next will be a doubling down of efforts to keep Biden in the White House and their back pocket.
“And so what, Maria, they’re going to do and what the acknowledgment is, is they’re going to intensify their efforts, meaning they’re going to deploy cyberweapons to try and influence election infrastructure. It means they’re going to engage in social media influence campaigns to influence American voters,” Ratcliffe continued. “And they’re going to do the things that they can to help Joe Biden continue to be president because it is good for China if he is.”
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