A newly declassified report by the House Intelligence Committee has further unravelled the long-standing narrative surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The report reveals that the intelligence community lacked any direct evidence that Russian leader Vladimir Putin sought to help President Donald Trump.
Instead, the investigation highlights how former President Barack Obama’s administration took a hands-on approach in crafting and publishing a fabricated intelligence assessment, pushing an unsubstantiated narrative that many now view as politically motivated.
The findings, released by Tulsi Gabbard and rooted in an investigation led by former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, shed light on the inner workings of the intelligence community (IC) during the critical days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration.
According to the report, Obama’s intervention created the conditions for an assessment that many now see as flawed and biased.
Despite the absence of direct evidence, the final report, commissioned by Obama, suggested that Putin had a preference for Trump over Hillary Clinton, despite contradictory intelligence reports that would have undermined this conclusion.
The report, which was dated September 18, 2020, and remained under wraps until its recent declassification, reveals that a handful of CIA analysts, working under extreme time pressure, produced the now-infamous Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) just before Trump took office.
The assessment became the cornerstone for much of the ongoing investigation into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia.
According to the declassified report, former CIA Director John Brennan played a pivotal role in advancing the ICA, despite the fact that significant portions of the intelligence gathered were weak, unclear, and in some cases, outright implausible.
This included reports that were described as “substandard” and lacking solid evidence, yet these were used as foundational sources for the ICA’s assertion that Putin sought to influence the U.S. election.
Yet, Brennan’s role in pushing false information linking Trump to Putin was covered up by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
The report has never before been released to the public, and instead, has remained highly classified within the intelligence community.
At the time, Schiff was serving in the powerful role of House Intelligence Committee chairman.
Further disturbing revelations point to deliberate omissions and selective quoting of intelligence that would have undermined the desired narrative.
The report specifically highlights how credible intelligence that contradicted the narrative that Russia favored Trump was either ignored or selectively quoted.
In particular, reports showing that Putin may have actually preferred a Clinton presidency were dismissed.
The ICA, which was released to the public in January 2017, failed to mention that two senior CIA officers had cautioned Brennan that there was no direct evidence linking Putin to any effort to help Trump win the election.
Despite these warnings, the Obama administration moved forward with the publication of the report.
One particularly troubling aspect of the investigation is the role of the now-discredited Steele dossier, which was included in the ICA despite its reliance on unverified information and “internet rumors.”
This dossier, funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), would go on to serve as a key piece of the FBI’s justification for launching the Russia probe.
Yet, as the investigation makes clear, the FBI and CIA knew that the dossier’s claims could not be corroborated, yet they proceeded with its inclusion in their official reports.
The report also sheds light on a key conversation that took place in the Oval Office in July 2016, where Obama and top officials like then-Vice President Joe Biden, Brennan, and FBI Director James Comey were briefed about intelligence that suggested the Clinton campaign was planning to manufacture a scandal that would tie Trump to Russia.
The revelation that such a plot was in the works raises serious questions about the integrity of the intelligence used to launch the investigation into the Trump campaign.
Gabbard, who has long been an outspoken critic of the politically charged investigations into Trump, has called for a full investigation into those responsible for creating the “manufactured” intelligence that fueled the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
She has now released the declassified report as part of her ongoing push for accountability within the intelligence community.
The timing of the report’s release is significant, as it follows the declassification of other documents earlier this year that revealed senior Obama-era officials had testified that there was no empirical evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia.
Despite this, the investigation continued for years, fueled by the narrative created by individuals within the intelligence community, many of whom were sympathetic to Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The newly released documents align with previous testimonies from top officials such as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who admitted in 2017 that he never saw any direct evidence linking the Trump campaign to Russia.
The lack of such evidence did not stop the investigation from spiraling out of control, ultimately leading to the Mueller investigation, which also failed to find conclusive evidence of collusion.
As the public’s trust in the integrity of these investigations continues to erode, many are demanding that those involved in perpetuating the narrative be held accountable.
The failure to produce real evidence, combined with the selective use of intelligence, calls into question the motivations behind the investigation and the role of top officials in perpetuating a narrative that was later proven to be false.
This investigation paints a grim picture of the Obama administration’s actions in the months leading up to the 2016 election and beyond.
By publishing flawed intelligence, selectively quoting reports, and allowing political considerations to shape official narratives, the intelligence community has undermined the very principles of transparency and truth that it is supposed to uphold.
For those who have long suspected that the Russia collusion narrative was a politically motivated attack on President Trump, the newly declassified documents serve as damning evidence of what many have suspected all along.
The political establishment, aided by the intelligence community, worked tirelessly to delegitimize Trump’s presidency by pushing a false and divisive narrative.
Now, with these findings, the pressure is mounting for accountability, and for those responsible to be held to the highest standards of justice.
It’s time to confront the truth: the narrative that plagued Trump’s presidency was not based on hard facts, but rather on a deliberate attempt to undermine him using manufactured intelligence.
The American people deserve to know the full extent of the machinations that led to the years-long Russia probe, and it’s time for those who pushed these baseless claims to face the consequences of their actions.
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