A report released Wednesday reveals intelligence agencies were aware that the Steele Dossier was not credible when they launched an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Daily Caller reported. This fact vindicates President Donald Trump's innocence in a scandal that should never have occurred.
Under then-President Barack Obama, the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment included the narrative about Russian collusion with Trump, even though analysts knew the information was not credible. The assessment conducted by the ICA in June revealed this information.
According to the review, many high-level CIA officials were aware that the Steele Dossier did not meet the standards typically used for such evidence. They "strongly opposed" its inclusion in the assessment, but they were overruled.
The Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Analysis has determined that John Brennan, then the head of the CIA, was responsible for including the dossier in the review knowing the problems it had. "The decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment," the review found.
The 2017 ICA assessment asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought "to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability." Putin also allegedly had a "clear preference for President-elect Trump," according to the erroneous evidence.
However, this narrative should never have gained traction, as it was clear that there were several issues with the Steele Dossier. What's worse is that Brennan didn't seem to care despite being aware of them.
"CIA’s Deputy Director for Analysis (DDA) warned in an email to Brennan on 29 December that including it in any form ‘risked the entire credibility of the paper.' Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness," the review said.
Seasoned operatives shared their misgivings, but Brennan apparently was "more swayed by the Dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns." The June review noted the problems were glaringly obvious.
"The DA Review identified multiple procedural anomalies in the preparation of the ICA. These included a highly compressed production timeline, stringent compartmentation, and excessive involvement of agency heads, all of which led to departures from standard practices in the drafting, coordination, and reviewing of the ICA," it concluded.
The review was a long time coming, and the Trump-appointed CIA Director John Ratcliffe commissioned it now that a Republican is back in office. The results showed that the intelligence agencies under Obama were targeting Trump.
“This was [President Barack] Obama, [FBI Director James] Comey, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper and Brennan deciding ‘We’re going to screw Trump.' It was, ‘We’re going to create this and put the imprimatur of an IC assessment in a way that nobody can question it,'" Ratcliffe said.
Despite these bombshell revelations, Republican Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford complained that the review wasn't thorough enough. "The CIA’s self-review of its 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian Election Interference falls FAR SHORT of the full truth," Crawford said on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
"It is abysmal CIA would put out a memo with half-truths, inaccuracies, and blatant omissions about the full extent of the Russia hoax and the deep state’s role. Even worse, they released this report while holding the Intel Committee’s report on the same issue hostage for 7 years," Crawford added.
Trump claimed all along that his opposition unfairly targeted him in 2016 and beyond. Now that the president has been vindicated in a significant way, it still remains to be seen whether anything will change, given the apparent corruption in the intelligence community.
