from Your News:
Newly released documents reveal intelligence chiefs rushed and restricted review of assessment claiming Putin favored Trump.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Newly declassified emails released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detail how former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper overrode the concerns of then–NSA Director Mike Rogers during the creation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin had a “clear preference” for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. The ICA became a central element in the years-long Russiagate media coverage.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
8.13-Emails-1 by yourNEWS Media
Rogers wrote to Clapper on Dec. 22, 2016, that NSA analysts were uneasy about the “fast-track” production schedule, saying they did not feel “fully comfortable” endorsing the report without more time to review “all of the intelligence” and without full access to “even the most sensitive evidence” supporting the conclusions. He emphasized that if NSA was to be listed as a co-author, he personally expected to see all underlying material.
Clapper responded by stressing unity among agencies — the CIA, FBI, NSA, and ODNI — and insisted that “more time is not negotiable,” telling Rogers, “This is one project that has to be a team sport” and “that’s OUR story, and we’re sticking to it.”
DNI Tulsi Gabbard, whose office declassified the records, said in a statement that the decision to accelerate the process and limit access to intelligence “was deliberate and came from the very top.” She argued that the email exchange confirmed the ICA was the result of “manufactured and politicized assessments.”
While the report bore the signatures of the CIA, FBI, and NSA, only five CIA analysts — handpicked by then-CIA Director John Brennan from a “Fusion Cell” formed months earlier — drafted the assessment. According to a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report declassified on July 23, 2025, the NSA expressed only “moderate confidence” in the conclusion that Putin sought to help Trump, compared to the CIA and FBI’s “high confidence.”
A CIA self-assessment declassified on July 2 revealed that Brennan withheld “sensitive intelligence” — described as unverified and slanted — from other intelligence agencies until just two days before the ICA was finalized. The documents indicate the material was circulated in hard copy between CIA headquarters in Langley, Fort Meade, and Washington, D.C.
