Declassified Docs Blow Hole in ‘Putin Backed Trump’ Claims

Newly declassified documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have cast doubt on previous claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin favored Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

A report prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2020 reveals that Putin and his team believed Hillary Clinton would win the presidency. The evidence suggests that Russian cyberattacks and email leaks were aimed at weakening what they anticipated would be a Clinton administration.

The documents indicate that Putin even “held back leaking some compromising material to use against the expected Clinton administration after they took office.” This raises important questions about the accuracy of previous intelligence assessments.

The claim of Putin’s preference for Trump was based on what the report describes as “one scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence” from a flawed intelligence report. The Intelligence Community Assessment, or ICA, reportedly misrepresented these reports as reliable without acknowledging their significant flaws.

This development follows earlier reports by Director Gabbard alleging that former President Barack Obama and his national security team were involved in what she terms a “yearslong” Russia-connected “coup” against Trump. The Director cites a December 9, 2016, White House meeting as pivotal in this alleged effort.

Investigators spent over 2,300 hours reviewing intelligence reports and interviewed 20 CIA and FBI officials to assess whether professional standards were followed in the original assessment. Their findings suggest that the CIA’s work was rushed, with analysts hand-picked and little time for review before Trump took office.

While these documents challenge previous narratives, it is crucial to note that the full context and implications of these revelations are still unfolding. The public’s right to accurate information remains paramount.