CIA Director John Ratcliffe not only "strongly supports the public release" of documents showing Obama administration officials tried to damage President Donald Trump, but he also "initiated" the declassification process after arriving at the agency earlier this year.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard last week announced that she was presenting "overwhelming evidence" to the Department of Justice showing that then-President Barack Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for a "yearslong" Russia-connected "coup" against Trump after he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
"CIA Director Ratcliffe strongly supports the public release of HPSCI's [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] report, which was the result of a process initiated by CIA and led by DNI Gabbard," a CIA spokesperson said, CBS News reported Thursday night.
"This effort reflects Director Ratcliffe's continued commitment to elevating the truth and bringing transparency to the American people and would not have been possible without his directive to return it to the committee."
Gabbard released a report drafted in 2017 by the House Intelligence Committee – including staffer Kash Patel, now the FBI director – on Russian activity during the 2016 election. Updated in 2020, the report was stored at CIA headquarters before Ratcliffe returned it to the House panel and ultimately toward public release, CBS News reported.
The House panel made available the report to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the outlet added.
Although Gabbard normally would have been required to consult with the intelligence agencies that contributed sensitive information to the report before declassifying it, that did not apply to the president, who made the decision to declassify.
Ratcliffe on July 2 took to social media while sharing a New York Post story about the CIA's review of the Obama administration's spy agencies' assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump was deliberately corrupted by then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then-DNI James Clapper.
"All the world can now see the truth: Brennan, Clapper and Comey manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump. Thank you to the career @CIA officers who conducted this review and exposed the facts," Ratcliffe wrote on X.
Gabbard on Wednesday said Obama will be the subject of a DOJ investigation on claims that he was behind the effort to stage a Russia-connected "coup" against Trump.
The released documents also showed that media reports about Russian President Vladimir Putin backing Trump in the 2016 election were bogus.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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