Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released new documents Wednesday debunking the long-standing narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
The declassified report, prepared by the House Intelligence Committee in 2020, reveals Putin believed Hillary Clinton would win and withheld damaging information to use against her expected administration.
The claim that Putin favored Trump, investigators found, was based on a single vague, unverified sentence and failed to meet Intelligence Community standards.
🧵 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
The 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, ordered by then-President Obama, was rushed and politicized, Gabbard said. She accused CIA leadership of ignoring better-quality intelligence, promoting the now-discredited Steele dossier, and misleading the public.
Gabbard called it the “most egregious weaponization of intelligence in American history,” alleging a coordinated effort to delegitimize President Trump and overturn the 2016 election outcome.
