Latest news with #JamesClapper
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gabbard claims Obama officials ‘manufactured intelligence' of 2016 Russian election interference
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a report Friday alleging Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Gabbard asserted in a statement that former officials engaged in a 'treasonous conspiracy' and said her office was turning over evidence to the Justice Department for possible criminal referrals. 'The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government,' Gabbard said. 'Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.' Friday's memo cites officials such as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey. President Trump has for years claimed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether his campaign colluded with Moscow was a 'hoax,' targeting officials like Brennan and Comey with frequent attacks. Trump in March signed a memo ordering the declassification of 'all files related to Crossfire Hurricane,' the name given to the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The very intelligence agencies that Gabbard now oversees have long concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election — an assessment that was backed by other outside entities. That includes a three-year bipartisan Senate investigation that concluded in a more than 1,300 page report that Russia was aggressive in seeking to interfere with the election on Trump's behalf, including by launching a massive social media campaign. Gabbard's memo, as well as another 114 pages of related documents, primarily rests on claims there was no indication of a Russian effort to directly manipulate the actual vote count. However, that is not at odds with the conclusion of the intelligence community or the Senate report, which determined there was 'no evidence that any votes were changed or that any voting machines were manipulated.' The Obama administration said it had seen no evidence that hackers tampered with the results. Gabbard's release was immediately panned by Intelligence Committee Democrats, who noted that it comes amid fractures within the Trump administration over how to handle scrutiny over the Jeffrey Epstein case. 'It's a day that ends with 'y' and Donald Trump desperately wants to change the subject, so Director Gabbard is rehashing decade-old false claims about the Obama Administration. Few episodes in our nation's history have been investigated as thoroughly as the Intelligence Community's warning in 2016 that Russia was interfering in the election,' House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said in a statement. 'Every legitimate investigation, including the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, found no evidence of politicization and endorsed the findings of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment.' Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also criticized Gabbard. 'It seems DNI Gabbard is unaware that the years-long Russia investigation carried out by the Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed that 'the Russian government directed extensive activity against U.S. election infrastructure' ahead of the 2016 election, and that it 'used social media to conduct an information warfare campaign' in order to benefit Donald Trump. This conclusion was supported on a unanimous basis by every single Democrat and Republican on the committee,' he said in a statement. Also Friday, the Justice Department moved to release some evidence from the Epstein case, including some grand jury testimony, under pressure to release more information about a figure Trump used to socialize with. The move from Gabbard comes not only amid fallout from the Epstein saga but shortly after reports that she had fallen out of favor with Trump over intelligence related to Iran's nuclear program. Friday's release underscores how probing the origins of the Russia investigation has remained a fixation for the president nearly a decade later. The memo also focuses on the Steele dossier, a collection of salacious allegations about Trump's ties to Russia, some of which has been discredited. Gabbard received praise from GOP figures for the report. 'DISMANTLING THE DEEP STATE!' Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote on social platform X. 'The Russia hoax was a political hit job manufactured by Obama officials and weaponized by intel agencies to take down President Trump. Accountability is long overdue!' However, in Democratic circles, Gabbard has been accused — in this instance as well as others — of tailoring intelligence to suit the needs of the administration. Warner noted that Gabbard previously called on Trump to pardon leaker Edward Snowden, who released thousands of National Security Agency documents showing the bulk collection of Americans' communications data. 'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president's election conspiracy theories,' Warner said. 'It is appalling to hear DNI Gabbard accuse her own IC workforce of committing a 'treasonous conspiracy' when she was unwilling to label Edward Snowden a traitor.' Updated at 6:33 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
A former Obama official sponsored a government K9 in memory of his dead wife. Trump stopped him going to its graduation ceremony
A former Obama administration official and Trump critic was barred from attending the graduation ceremony of a K9 officer he had sponsored - and named after his dead wife. James Clapper, who served as Director of National Intelligence from 2010 until 2017, was informed by the nonprofit dog-training group that his name had been taken off the list for the event. The 84-year-old had sponsored the yellow Labrador, named Susan, as she completed her CIA training for 'detection canines.' Once deployed, the dogs help to sniff out concealed explosives. Clapper's late wife, Susan, a former National Security Agency employee, had been a great animal lover and had volunteered at a local animal shelter. According to The Atlantic, Clapper was informed that he was not permitted to attend Susan's graduation a day before the event in late May. The order to bar him had come from an executive order signed by the president. Trump's disdain for Clapper stems from his first administration, when the former intelligence chief had testified in a hearing into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election – which the president has referred to multiple times as a 'hoax.' At the time, Trump wrote that Clapper and another Obama-era official had begun to 'choke like dogs' during the Senate hearing, according to the outlet. Clapper has also, on multiple occasions, questioned the president's fitness for office during TV news hits. After returning to office Trump immediately got rid of the security clearance of dozens of former intelligence officials, including Clapper. This order, according to The Atlantic, was misinterpreted by CIA officials to mean the octogenarian was not allowed on any agency property. The graduation took place at a CIA training facility in Herndon, Virginia. The outlet reported that, since the event was not a classified affair, there was no reason to keep Clapper from celebrating the achievements of his dog. The Independent
Russia Today
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russiagate was political ploy to ‘screw Trump'
A US intelligence report on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, commissioned by then-President Barack Obama, was nothing but a deliberate manipulation, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said, citing his agency's recent internal review. Known as the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian Election Interference (ICA), the report kickstarted the Russiagate conspiracy, prompted special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry, and 'ate up the first two years' of President Donald Trump's first term, Ratcliffe said in an interview with the New York Post published on Wednesday. The new CIA head ordered an internal review of the report in May. Obama ordered the ICA just six weeks before leaving office. According to the CIA review of its drafting and rushed release, declassified on Wednesday, then-CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were unusually and 'excessively involved' in the process. 'The rushed timeline to publish both classified and unclassified versions before the presidential transition raised questions about a potential political motive behind the White House tasking and timeline,' the review said, calling the work on the report 'chaotic,' 'atypical,' and 'markedly unconventional.' All the world can now see the truth: Brennan, Clapper and Comey manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump. Thank you to the career @CIA officers who conducted this review and exposed the facts. The CIA review found that Brennan effectively directed the compilation of the ICA and particularly insisted on including the later discredited Steele dossier. The dossier – a compilation of unverified rumors about Trump and his alleged links to Russia – was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and reportedly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign. 'This was Obama, Comey, Clapper, and Brennan deciding, 'We're going to screw Trump,'' Ratcliffe said, commenting on his agency's findings. 'It was, 'We're going to create this and put the imprimatur of an IC assessment in a way that nobody can question it.' They stamped it as Russian collusion and then classified it so nobody could see it.' 'Brennan and Clapper and Comey manipulated [and] silenced all the career professionals and railroaded the process,' the CIA director added. American public opinion was further manipulated by constant media leaks and unnamed officials cited by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other mainstream outlets. 'Before work on the assessment even began, media leaks suggesting that the IC had already reached definitive conclusions risked creating an anchoring bias,' the review noted. The ICA, as well as the FBI's 2016 'Crossfire Hurricane' investigation and the subsequent Mueller inquiry, cast a long shadow over Trump's first term, with allegations of 'Russian collusion' persisting in the media even after Mueller's report found no evidence to support them. Moscow has also repeatedly denied any election interference.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Q&A: New documentary claims US government has been secretly capturing UFOs, aliens for decades
CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A new documentary claims the US has been secretly working to capture UFOs and aliens for nearly 80 years. 'The Age of Disclosure' delves into the reported efforts from the US government to collect information on aliens and their visits to our world. This documentary features various high-ranking officials, including the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who worked under President Obama. Clapper claims the government has taken an out-of-date approach to disclosing information on UAPs or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Former US Air Force Airman Jacob Barber testified in 2024 before lawmakers and recently talked to NewsNation about his work on some of these government operations, specifically something he calls 'The Range'. The film also features interviews with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and former Director of the US Government's UAP Task Force Jay Stratton. Chief Transportation Correspondent MayCay Beeler speaks on the stigma around aliens and UFOs and how some will try to discredit the high-ranking officials featured in the documentary. And the big question: Are Americans even prepared for the developments that could change the course of humanity? Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
