Former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper responded sharply Wednesday to Trump administration allegations that they cooked intel in the sprawling Russia investigation that dominated the president’s first term.
“That is patently false. In making those allegations, they seek to rewrite history. We want to set the record straight and, in doing so, sound a warning,” the pair wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has alleged former President Barack Obama and members of his administration, including Clapper and Brennan, promoted a “contrived narrative” that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump, which led to the sprawling collusion investigation that consumed Trump’s presidency. Trump has described the alleged actions by Obama, Clapper, Brennan and Comey as “serious treason.”
“While some external critiques have noted that parts of the Russia investigation could have been handled better, multiple, thorough, years-long reviews of the assessment have validated its findings and the rigor of its analysis,” Brennan and Clapper wrote, arguing the most “noteworthy” example was the bipartisan Senate Intelligence report on the investigation.
“Every serious review has substantiated the intelligence community’s fundamental conclusion that the Russians conducted an influence campaign intended to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election,” the pair continued. “Although the misrepresentations and disinformation of the administration are too numerous to address here, let us set the record straight on three. To be clear, we are writing here in our personal capacities, and our views don’t imply the endorsement of any federal agency.”
Brennan and Clapper argued that the Steele Dossier, which was authored by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the DNC, was not used as a source or taken into account for any of the analysis. However, they added it was included as a “separate annex only to the most highly classified version of the document that contained the assessment,” at the direction of the FBI.
The intelligence officials also said that their assessment made “no judgment” about the impact of the Russian operation on the outcome of the 2016 election.
“Russian influence operations might have shaped the views of Americans before they entered the voting booth, but we found no evidence that the Russians changed any actual votes,” Clapper and Brennan wrote.
Clapper appeared on CNN to dispute the allegations, telling host Kaitlan Collins that the claims were false. Brennan joined MSNBC earlier this month and said he was “clueless” as to why he would be investigated.
“Finally, and contrary to the Trump administration’s wild and baseless claims, there was no mention of ‘collusion’ between the Trump campaign and the Russians in the assessment, nor any reference to the publicly acknowledged contacts that had taken place,” Clapper and Brennan added.
The pair insisted the “real politicization” was coming from members of Trump’s administration, specifically Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
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“The real politicization is the calculated distortion of intelligence by administration officials, notably Mr. Trump’s directors of national intelligence and the C.I.A., positions that should be apolitical. We find it deeply regrettable that the administration continues to perpetuate the fictitious narrative that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election. It should instead acknowledge that a foreign nation-state — a mortal enemy of the United States — routinely meddles in our national elections and will continue to do so unless we take appropriate bipartisan action to stop it,” Clapper and Brennan concluded.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.