Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has declassified a 2020 report revealing that Obama-era intelligence officials lacked any direct evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election.
The report directly undermines the core judgment of the infamous Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA)—a document widely cited by the media and Democrats to fuel the Trump-Russia collusion narrative for years.
“We don’t have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected,” two senior CIA operations officers warned at the time, according to the newly declassified documents.
🧵 New evidence has emerged of the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history. Per President @realDonaldTrump‘s directive, I have declassified a @HouseIntel oversight majority staff report that exposes how the Obama Administration… pic.twitter.com/0sS4Df8yoI
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) July 23, 2025
Core Finding Based on a Single “Unclear” Sentence
According to the report, the ICA’s claim that Putin “aspired to help Trump’s chances” relied on a single, vague sentence fragment from a HUMINT (human intelligence) report.
That fragment said Putin decided to leak DNC emails after concluding that Hillary Clinton was likely to win, and that Trump was unlikely to pull off a victory. Officials noted the statement was ambiguous, poorly worded, and open to multiple interpretations.
“Five people read it five different ways,” one CIA officer said.
Another added, “We don’t know what was meant by that.”
Despite these internal concerns, the Obama administration—specifically CIA Director John Brennan—included the claim anyway in a high-profile assessment requested by President Obama himself.
“Obama ordered them to report it anyway,” conservative commentator Jack Posobiec posted on X.
Politically Driven Intelligence
The report paints a damning picture of how the ICA was drafted:
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Just five CIA analysts created the product
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It was directed by senior political appointees, not standard intelligence channels
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There was no full coordination or review within the intelligence community
“The draft was not properly coordinated… ensuring it would be published without significant challenges to its conclusions,” the report states.
Gabbard: “The Russia Hoax Was a Lie”
DNI Tulsi Gabbard said the report, when combined with other recently declassified materials—including the DOJ’s “Clinton Annex” and a new House Intelligence Oversight Report—confirms what many Americans have long believed.
“The Russia Hoax was a lie that was knowingly created by the Obama Administration to undermine the legitimacy and power of the duly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump,” Gabbard posted.
She emphasized that the report highlights “egregious politicization” of intelligence at the highest levels of the Obama administration.
“This is the most egregious weaponization of intelligence in American history,” Gabbard added.
