“That’s what we’re dealing with, and it’s frustrating.”
It’s kind of hard to wrap your head around the idea that the masterminds behind Russiagate are actually that clueless. Yet, documents recently uncovered from Tulsi Gabbard reveal just how much power these secret figures wielded—able to cover up questionable actions for almost a decade. Seems like someone in the Obama administration wasn’t giving enough credit to their own intelligence.
The latest release features details from James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence. In an email to Mike Rogers, then Director of the NSA, Clapper essentially urged him to quietly back the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).
“I get your concerns,” Clapper stated on December 22, 2016, just as the Obama administration was wrapping up.
“It’s crucial that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) are aligned, and that we all endorse the report. That’s our narrative, and it’s in line with the tradition of sticking together.”
Pressures of Compromise
Rogers started the exchange by expressing worries that key information had been compromised. His team didn’t feel they had, well, adequate access to the intelligence for a thorough review.
“I’m concerned that, given the urgency of the situation, my team might not feel fully confident about the intelligence we’ve reviewed,” Rogers wrote.
“I realize it’s crucial to be 100% sure before we present anything to the President. There’s really only one shot to get this right.”
Rogers added that if the NSA was going to co-author the report, he hoped they’d have sight of all sensitive evidence surrounding the conclusions.
But Clapper was unyielding.
“We can’t push for more time,” he replied, also including Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey on the email.
“We may have to adjust our normal procedures due to the tight timeline.”
This is a collaborative effort, after all.
It’s almost comical how they could speak so formally while drafting something that was really kind of absurd and, well, letting it go down in history.
As Gabbard pointed out when releasing the correspondence, Clapper’s own messages hint that compliance with these orders to “manufacture” intelligence was just a game.
There was really no valid reason for the ICA to be rushed. Just a few weeks after that December 9 Oval Office meeting, Obama instructed Clapper, Brennan, Comey, and others to push out narratives that were convenient before the election—ones that aimed to erase any signs of discord stemming from Russia’s actions.
Interestingly, past documents that Gabbard exposed indicate that Russian agents had information detrimental to Hillary Clinton’s mental and physical wellbeing.
Nonetheless, Obama was determined to ensure the ICA was publicly revealed before Trump took office on January 20, 2017, likely to inflict as much damage as possible on Trump. After all, Trump’s election was seen as a direct challenge to Obama’s legacy, not to mention a means to obscure the Clinton scandal.
The Onset of the Smear Campaign
As a result, the ICA was unveiled on January 6, 2017, backing its claims with dubious documents. Brennan insisted that it was consistent with the perspectives of the CIA’s leading Russian experts, both in the main report and its appendix.
Shockingly, the findings were leaked to the press before the analysts had even begun their evaluations.
On the very day of Obama’s ICA order, the Washington Post ran an unsubstantiated story claiming that “the CIA had reached a secret assessment concluding that Russia had intervened in the 2016 election to undermine the President.”
Such foresight.
Gabbard argues that Trump’s portrayal as a Russian asset complicated his presidency, which she termed a “long-standing coup.”
It eroded his legitimacy, allowing his opponents to frame him as an illegitimate president controlled by his so-called “handler” Vladimir Putin.
While it’s quite complex to assess how these falsehoods affected US-Russia relations during Trump’s presidency—and, by extension, the Russian invasion of Ukraine—the shadows of that narrative lingered as Putin met with Trump amid ongoing tensions.
Mike Davis, an attorney and president of the Article III Project, labeled Russiagate as “the biggest scandal in American history.”
“Obama, Biden, Clinton, Brennan, Clapper, and several others concocted this Russian collusion story to protect Clinton and attack then-candidate Trump. They aimed to dismantle him, to destroy him financially, toss him in prison, and eliminate him from participating in politics,” Davis exclaimed.
He mentioned newly declassified evidence indicating that the materials leaked to harm Trump could pave the way for potential accountability for those involved, unlike many federal offenses that have a ten-year statute of limitations.
“Conspiracy Crimes”
Other accusations against those involved in this alleged coup could focus on engaging in a criminal conspiracy and covering it up.
Davis posited that these coup plotters might also face charges of “conspiracy against rights,” given how politicized intelligence reporting became under Obama, Biden, and Clinton targeting Trump.
He emphasized that while Obama held presidential immunity during his term, once out of office, that shield no longer applies.
“If you keep covering up your dealings, you may find yourself in criminal territory where that immunity doesn’t protect you,” Davis warned.
Anyone entangled in Russiagate should, he advised, “lawyer up.” Justice is certainly on its way, and nobody is above the law.
It’s almost remarkable how someone so seemingly dim-witted managed to evade consequences for this long.
