The minimally redacted classified report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released late last month contains information so sensitive that it could allow America’s enemies to detect top-secret spying techniques and human sources, and could result in America’s allies reconsidering the trust they place in the U.S. Intelligence Community, one top Democrat is warning.
The CIA and other intelligence agencies opposed the release of the 46-page report, according to The Washington Post, but Director Gabbard released it “with the blessing of President Donald Trump.”
“The document contains multiple references to CIA human sources reporting on Putin’s plans. Such sources are among the agency’s most closely guarded secrets,” the Post reported.
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“Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Pam Bondi have released a slew of intelligence and law enforcement reports over the last month that they claim — without evidence — prove that spy agencies’ finding that Moscow intervened in the 2016 presidential contest to help Trump is a ‘hoax’ concocted by the Obama administration,” according to the Post.
Indeed, the report Gabbard released, stemming from a 2017 Republican majority House Intelligence Committee review, disputes U.S. intelligence agencies’ findings that Russian President Vladimir Putin preferred the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump in 2016, over Democrat Hillary Clinton, and made efforts to help him get elected.
A Republican majority U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report confirmed that Russian President Putin endeavored to help get now-President Donald Trump elected in 2016:
“The Committee found that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian effort to hack computer networks and accounts affiliated with the Democratic Party and leak information damaging to Hillary Clinton and her campaign for president. Moscow’s intent was to harm the Clinton Campaign, tarnish an expected Clinton presidential administration, help the Trump Campaign after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and undermine the U.S. democratic process.”
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U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, blasted Gabbard’s release of the 46-page House report.
“The desperate and irresponsible release of the partisan House Intelligence report puts at risk some of the most sensitive sources and methods our Intelligence Community uses to spy on Russia and keep Americans safe,” Senator Warner said in a statement, according to the Post. “And in doing so, Director Gabbard is sending a chilling message to our allies and assets around the world: the United States can no longer be trusted to protect the intelligence you share with us.”
Separately, on Tuesday, Senator Warner wrote on social media, “Tulsi Gabbard is a threat to our national security and should be fired.”