Recently declassified documents and interviews with former Trump officials provide new detail on how members of President Donald Trump’s first-term cabinet and senior appointees did not disclose evidence that challenged the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) produced at the end of the Obama administration.
The ICA asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed efforts to help Trump win the 2016 election.
.@DNIGabbard: "There is irrefutable evidence that detail how President Barack Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they KNEW was false." pic.twitter.com/qJ033F6Qwv
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 23, 2025
According to the newly released material, the assessment relied on minimal and unverified intelligence and incorporated political opposition research funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Former Special Counsel John Durham, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former CIA Director Gina Haspel either withheld or delayed evidence that raised questions about the ICA.
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Durham, appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr, halted the release of exculpatory intelligence on the eve of the 2020 election.
TRAITORS: Trump’s disgraced former CIA Director Mike Pompeo kept the president in the dark while giving Rep Adam Schiff a private workspace inside the CIA to hunt for classified intel that could be used to oust him. John Brennan’s notes indicate Pompeo, Durham, Bolton, and Haspel… https://t.co/04uOCP8ulW pic.twitter.com/79znm9wHnA
— @amuse (@amuse) November 21, 2025
The evidence included a 2018 review that found the ICA’s core claims were supported by “one scant, unclear and unverifiable fragment of a sentence” from a low-quality intelligence report and by portions of the Steele dossier.
Former Trump national security adviser J.D. Gordon said the handling of the ICA allowed the narrative to persist publicly during Trump’s presidency. “The Russiagate betrayal continued in plain sight,” he said.
In mid-2018, Bolton’s chief of staff, Fred Fleitz, reviewed a draft House Intelligence Committee report in a secure Capitol facility.
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The report stated that the ICA misrepresented the Steele dossier’s value and relied on intelligence later proven false or unsubstantiated.
Fleitz relayed the findings to Bolton, but Bolton did not brief Trump.
“He didn’t do anything with it. He never told Trump,” Fleitz said.
Pompeo, then Trump’s CIA director, was briefed on the House committee’s findings.
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Derek Harvey, a former senior adviser to the committee, said Pompeo doubted the conclusions and the committee did not receive cooperation from the agency.
Haspel, Pompeo’s deputy and later CIA director, oversaw restrictions on the House committee’s review of classified ICA source documents from 2017 to 2020.
Investigators were required to work inside a CIA read room, leave all materials in the building each night, and use CIA-issued computers that committee staff later reported malfunctioned and lost text. The committee also said CIA technical changes made the machines “unstable and unreliable.” Access to the ICA’s five principal authors was delayed for nearly five months.
Haspel secured all drafts of the House report and investigators’ notes in a vault until she left office in January 2021. Before leaving, she urged Barr and Durham not to release the findings before the 2020 election. Fleitz described this as “insubordination to a U.S. president.”
Haspel had previously served in London during 2016, when FBI investigators, including Peter Strzok, pursued leads that later informed the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Attempts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful.
As Trump’s first term ended, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sought to declassify a 44-page report refuting the ICA.
Durham objected, saying he needed the material for his investigation, and Ratcliffe agreed to delay release.
“Durham specifically asked for that report to not be declassified and released, because he wanted to use it as part of his investigation and prosecutions – or so we presumed,” the former senior ODNI intelligence official familiar with Ratcliffe’s declassification effort said.
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) November 21, 2025
The document remained withheld until Trump’s current National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard, declassified it in July.
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A former senior intelligence official familiar with the process said the committee provided thousands of pages of supporting documents to Durham.
“After we gave Durham the report… he went ghost,” the official said.
“After we gave Durham the report, along with over a thousand pages of other classified documents, he went ghost,” said the former senior intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We didn't hear from him, and he didn’t appear to do anything with the report.”
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) November 21, 2025
Durham’s final 316-page report, released in 2023, made only a brief footnote reference to the ICA.
The ICA is now part of criminal inquiries involving former Obama-era officials, including Brennan and Clapper. Federal prosecutors in Florida have issued subpoenas for records related to the drafting of the 2016-2017 assessment.
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"Comey, Clapper, Brennan, Obama, Monaco all conspired together, all worked together to try to sabotage, undermine,… pic.twitter.com/BznGuOogZM— Svetlana Lokhova (@RealSLokhova) September 28, 2025
Former officials who cooperated with the House review said the ICA became the foundation for numerous investigations of Trump and his advisers.
Harvey said, “The CIA engaged in a conspiracy to fabricate intelligence against Trump.”
He also said analysts were pressured to alter pre-election assessments to align with the ICA’s conclusions.
A whistleblower who worked under then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told investigators he believed raw intelligence was manipulated.
He contacted Durham but was never interviewed.
Fleitz said the declassified material shows that intelligence was “rigged and politicized.”
He said Trump-appointed officials allowed the ICA to stand unchallenged during the administration, despite evidence calling its claims into question.
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And where in the hell is Pam Bondi on this??????!!?!? Why haven’t all these criminals been arrest and thrown in jail until their court dates???? Look what she did with Comey. Allowed him to walk in and control the whole situation of his corruption. And the indictment against him was that he lied to congress. There should have been a mountain of charges. In the meantime he’s still walking around with that smug look on fricken face. Nice job Bondi! All she does is talk and then does nothing!! Trump had better get his naive head out of his behind and drop the hammer before it’s too late!
I really tried to give Pam Bondi the benefit of the doubt. However, I am with you. It appears she is botching everything. Is she maybe a secret traitor of President Trump? I am beginning to believe maybe she is. President Trump needs to get on top of this very soon.
Apparently most of the recommendations for Trump’s cabinet came from RINOs. I was more surprised by how useless Barr made himself!
This is a clear case of Treason. Purposely hiding exculpatory evidence to alter a Presidential election. This has never happened in America’s history. Every one of these people need to be prosecuted so that something like that never happens again.
This is hard to believe how deep the rot was. The more I read and learn I’m shocked how massive the corruption against an elected POTUS was.
With almost a year into his second presidency there is no time to waste or they’ll have gotten away with this.
The Swamp was and still is – VERY DEEP and totally CORRUPT.
Time is indeed of the essence ! Controlling the lack of speed in any investigation as well as deliberate misdirections are the primary methods by which the SWAMP continues to smoke-screen until new elections replace the potential Good-Guys with yet more treacherous ones ready and waiting in the wings !
It seems to have all come together during President Clintons reign in power – I wonder if that could have anything to do with it ? ;) Surely not ? Hmmmm….