Conservative media is overflowing with stories about the document dump about the Russia Hoax. The mainstream media, not so much. There are some things that are revealed in the documents declassified that might be troubling to some of the people who were in power in 2016 and early 2017.
On Monday, The Federalist reported:
Internal emails released on Friday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reveal that after former President Barack Obama ordered an intelligence assessment of Russia’s election influence, a top official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence scuttled the release of an already-completed intelligence report that concluded Russian had not hacked the 2016 presidential election.
On Friday, Director Gabbard released newly declassified documents, including scores of emails related to a 7-page draft President’s Daily Brief or PDB. That draft PDB, dated December 8, 2016, concluded, “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.” But hours before the planned publication of the PDB, the ODNI’s deputy director pulled the report, purportedly due to “some new guidance.”
However, the email threads declassified last week indicate the ODNI instead buried the PDB to provide the intelligence community cover to issue a contrary assessment concerning Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election — and did so, against the recommendations of a wide array of intelligence professionals.
Specifically, on Thursday, December 8, 2016, the “Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues” for ODNI responded to an earlier email from the Deputy Director of ODNI concerning the publication of the PDB. “The room’s thoughts (EEMC, NIO Russia, CTIIC, NSA, FBI, CCI) were that it was worth going ahead with the pdb if possible now to provide our current understanding of what happened during the election, and that worst case the ICA has some language and an associated briefer note explaining any changes between the products.”
I am not sure exactly how much of this activity is illegal or if anyone will ever be held accountable for their lies. However, the value of getting it out there is vindication for those of us who have watched the lies the media has told be accepted as fact. I don’t expect apologies from my friends and family who hate President Trump, but it feels good to know that my research in the alternative media has been more accurate than the reporting by the mainstream media.