Trump's intelligence chiefs try to rewrite the history of the 2016 election

Trump’s intelligence chiefs are conducting a systematic campaign to rewrite the history of the 2016 election and reverse a bipartisan assessment that Russia meddled.

President Donald Trump’s intelligence chiefs are conducting a systematic campaign to rewrite the history of the 2016 election, seeking to reverse an eight-year-old assessment that Russia waged an information war to boost Trump’s candidacy.

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have cited declassified emails to allege in social media posts and television appearances that Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence and conspired to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s electoral victory in 2016.

But a bipartisan Senate investigation in 2020 and a recent CIA review both found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, launching a disinformation campaign designed to damage Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

A three-year investigation by special counsel John Durham reported no criminal conspiracy by Obama administration officials to sabotage Trump, and Durham filed no charges against CIA officials.

On Monday, Fox News reported that Gabbard’s office made a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to the 2017 intelligence assessment of Russia’s role in the 2016 election, without specifying the nature of the referral.