Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper pressured a fellow intel community chief to sign onto a fabricated intelligence assessment that pushed the baseless claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump, according to declassified documents released Wednesday.
Published by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, the bombshell Dec. 22, 2016, emails further demonstrate how former President Obama and his intel chiefs weaponized a 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) to launch the infamous Trump-Russia collusion hoax. Declassified documents previously released by Gabbard showed how the ICA’s “key judgement” that Russia’s 2016 interference was designed “to help President-elect Trump’s election chances” was based on weak and uncorroborated intel — a fact known by Obama’s intel chiefs like then-CIA Director John Brennan, who insisted on it and other unsubstantiated intel’s inclusion in the ICA despite their unreliability.
Meanwhile, intelligence contradicting that “key judgement” was left out of the ICA.
The new records unveiled Wednesday document an apparent email exchange between Clapper and then-National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers about the ICA and its unreliable intelligence.
In his Dec. 22, 2016, message to Clapper, Brennan, and then-FBI Director James Comey, Rogers raised “some concerns” he had about the “fast-track” nature of getting the report finished, as well as the “underlying intelligence” being used in the “joint product related to Russian attribution and intent for the [Democratic National Committee/Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] hacks.”
“I asked my team if they’d had sufficient access to the underlying intelligence and sufficient time to review that intelligence. On both points my team raised concerns,” Rogers wrote. “They were clear that, at the staff level, folks have been forward-leaning and trying to ensure that we have an opportunity to review and weigh in, but I’m concerned that, given the expedited nature of this activity, my folks aren’t fully comfortable saying that they have had enough time to review all of the intelligence to be absolutely confident in their assessments.”
Rogers added that he and his team were “not saying that we disagree substantively,” and that he did want “to make sure that, when we are asked in the future whether we can absolutely stand behind the paper, that we don’t have any reason to hesitate because of the process.” He went on to assert that when it came to crafting a joint intel report “that we can all defend,” he was “concerned that we are not there yet.”
“In addition, if NSA is intended to be a co-author of this product, I personally expect to see even the most sensitive evidence related to the conclusion,” Rogers wrote. “However, if your intent is to create a CIA-only or a CIA/FBI-authored product, then I will stand down on these concerns.”
[EXCLUSIVE: Clapper Crew Threatened Whistleblower Who Refused To Sign Off On Fabricated Intel Assessment]
The declassified records showed that Clapper responded to Rogers later that day.
While writing that he “understand[s] [Rogers’] concern,” Clapper stressed that it “is essential we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page, and are all supportive of the report — in the highest tradition of ‘that’s OUR story, and we’re stickin’ to it.’”
“This evening, CIA has provided to the NIC the complete draft generated by the ad hoc fusion cell,” Clapper wrote. “We will facilitate as much mutual transparency as possible as we complete the report, but, more time is not negotiable. We may have to compromise on our ‘normal’ modalities, since we must do this on such a compressed schedule.”
“This is one project that has to be a team sport,” he added.
The published ICA noted that “all three agencies” agreed with the judgment that “Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances.” While the CIA and FBI expressed “high confidence” in the judgment, the NSA expressed “moderate confidence.”
The December 2016 emails are the latest evidence released in recent weeks further exposing the Obama administration and other Democrats’ efforts to foment the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.
Documents released earlier this week, for example, included testimony from a former Democrat staffer that then-House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., allegedly leaked classified intel to the media to damage Trump. The release confirmed prior reporting by The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, who reported on Schiff’s purported leaking in December 2024.