CIA Director John Ratcliffe has alleged that the Obama-era probe into Russian election interference was a political manipulation designed to target former President Donald Trump. His agency’s internal review found the report was rushed, chaotic, and marked by unusual involvement from high-level officials, raising questions about its origins and motives.
The Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian Election Interference, commissioned by then-President Barack Obama just six weeks before his term ended, was the catalyst for the Russiagate conspiracy, which in turn prompted Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry. Ratcliffe stated that the rushed timeline to publish both classified and unclassified versions of the report before the presidential transition raised concerns about potential political motives. The review, declassified on Wednesday, indicated that then-CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were unusually and excessively involved in the process, with Brennan effectively directing the compilation of the report and insisting on including the later discredited Steele dossier.
Ratcliffe described the report as ‘chaotic,’ ‘atypical,’ and ‘markedly unconventional,’ suggesting that the involvement of these officials was not standard practice. He accused Brennan, Clapper, and Comey of manipulating intelligence and silencing career professionals to undermine Trump. Ratcliffe emphasized that the report’s findings were used to create an impression of Russian collusion without proper evidence, with the report itself being classified so that its conclusions could not be questioned. The review also highlighted the role of media leaks, which created an anchoring bias by suggesting that the intelligence community had already reached definitive conclusions before the assessment even began.
The ICA, along with the FBI’s 2016 ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ investigation and the subsequent Mueller inquiry, cast a long shadow over Trump’s first term, with allegations of ‘Russian collusion’ persisting in the media even after Mueller’s report found no evidence to support them. Moscow has consistently denied any election interference. Ratcliffe’s comments, made in an interview with the New York Post, have intensified debates about the integrity of the intelligence and legal processes during the Trump administration, with some calling for greater transparency in future investigations.