00:08:30.180The intelligence community excluded significant intelligence and ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence
00:08:36.340that contradicted the intelligence community assessment's key findings on Putin's alleged support for Trump,
00:08:43.080including this intelligence reporting, would have exposed the ICA's claim as implausible, if not ridiculous.
00:08:50.640The intelligence community assessment omitted reliably sourced information,
00:08:55.300such as how some Russian intelligence officials were, quote, unquote,
00:08:58.100planning for candidate Hillary Clinton's victory,
00:09:01.580while others assessed neither Trump nor Clinton would respect Russia's interests.
00:09:05.940As was reflected in the ODNI documents that we released on Friday,
00:09:09.600multiple intelligence community assessments released in the months leading up to the November 2016 election
00:09:14.680concluded that Russia had neither the intent nor capability to impact the outcome of the U.S. election.
00:09:20.920On December 5th of 2016, the FBI and ODNI gave the House Intelligence Committee its first post-election classified briefing
00:09:28.960in which there was no mention of Putin aspiring to elect Trump by either agency.
00:09:34.620The presidential daily brief drafted on December 8th of 2016 stated that no Russian or criminal actors impacted vote counts.
00:09:42.920This document was pulled just hours before it was to be published due to, quote, unquote, new guidance.
00:09:49.340If it had been published, it would have been briefed to both President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump.
00:09:55.400On December 9th, 2016, a National Security Council meeting was called to gather President Obama's senior national security officials,
00:10:01.540which included CIA Director Brennan, then Obama DNI James Clapper, Susan Rice, and others.
00:10:07.500Following that secret meeting, DNI Clapper's assistant sent an email to the intelligence community with the subject line,
00:10:14.300POTUS tasking on Russia election meddling, tasking ODNI leaders to create a new assessment per the President's request.
00:10:22.100The House Intelligence Committee oversight report that we released today reveals that, quote,
00:10:26.340Unlike routine intelligence community analysis, the intelligence community assessment was a high-profile product ordered by the President, President Obama.
00:10:36.020It directed senior intelligence community agency heads and created an intelligence community assessment limited to just five analysts using one principal drafter.
00:10:46.340This is not something that occurs in the normal path of producing an intelligence community assessment that reflects the views across the intelligence community.
00:10:57.480The production of this intelligence community assessment was subject to unusual directives directly from the President and senior political appointees,
00:11:04.960especially the former Director of the CIA, John Brennan.
00:11:08.140The House Intelligence Committee oversight report also shows how later that same day, on December 9th,
00:11:14.060Brennan ordered the publication of, quote, unquote, substandard reporting on Russian activities.
00:11:19.280Some of the information later used in the Obama-ordered assessment over the objections of veteran CIA officers was, quote, unquote, unclear or from unknown sources.
00:11:29.360The Intelligence Committee's oversight report reveals that CIA Director Brennan overruled senior CIA officers who challenged the Obama-ordered intelligence assessment,
00:11:41.380We don't have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected.
00:11:45.720Yet, the Obama-directed assessment was published on January 6, 2017, which explicitly stated, quote,
00:11:51.660We assess Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him, end of quote.
00:12:04.920The CIA and FBI, then led by John Brennan and James Comey, expressed high confidence in this judgment, while the NSA expressed moderate confidence.
00:12:15.940Yet, as the report we released today shows, the ICA, the Intelligence Community Assessment, did not cite any report where Putin indicated helping Trump win was an objective.
00:12:28.680With regards to the Steele dossier, we now know that one of the source documents that the Obama administration used in the creation of this intelligence assessment in January of 2017
00:12:38.640was none other than the discredited, unverified Steele dossier.
00:12:42.420The House Intel report states, quote, contradicting public claims by then CIA Director Brennan that the dossier was not in any way incorporated into this intelligence assessment.
00:12:53.360The dossier was referenced in the intelligence assessment's main body text and further detailed in a two-page assessment annex.
00:13:01.260John Brennan lied, and he denied using this dossier in this intelligence assessment that President Obama ordered because he knew it was discredited.
00:13:09.220It was a politically motivated, manufactured document.
00:13:12.920He directed senior CIA officials to use it anyway.
00:13:16.660CIA officer told the House Intelligence Committee staff as they investigated this, quote,
00:13:23.560the Director of the CIA, John Brennan, refused to remove it.
00:13:27.800And when confronted with the dossier's many flaws, responded, quote, yes, but doesn't it ring true?
00:13:33.940Even the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report published in 2020 criticized the FBI's handling of the Steele dossier,
00:13:42.080noting its completely unverified nature and purposeful sidestepping of intelligence community procedures in its use.
00:13:50.340Now, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey and others,
00:13:54.600including their mouthpieces in the media, knowingly lied as they repeated the contrived narrative that was created in this January 2017
00:14:03.200intelligence community assessment with high confidence as though it were fact.
00:14:08.320John Brennan, as CIA director, stated in a memo to his agency staff in December of 2016, saying, quote,
00:14:14.540there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election.
00:14:22.800This was reported by NBC News, confirming that Brennan, along with James Clapper and James Comey,
00:14:29.200agreed with the CIA's assessment that Russia intervened to help Trump win the presidency.
00:14:34.680As Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper was tasked with overseeing the creation of this assessment
00:14:40.080in January of 2017 by President Obama, and he expressed confidence in its findings.
00:14:46.180In a 2018 interview with the Harvard Gazette, he talked about how he provided Trump with the same classified assessment
00:14:53.740that President Obama received, which included the high confidence judgment that Putin directly ordered the hacking and election interference.
00:15:01.580Clapper then went on to add, I think they, the Russians, actually influenced the outcome.
00:15:06.580This is a brief summary of the details that you'll find within the House majority staff's report
00:15:12.220in their investigation into the Obama-directed January 2017 intelligence community assessment
00:15:18.960that leads us to the very same conclusion that we announced in the release of our documents on Friday.
00:15:24.780The implications of this are far-reaching and have to do with the integrity of our democratic republic.
00:15:30.980It has to do with an outgoing president taking action to manufacture intelligence
00:15:36.760to undermine and usurp the will of the American people in that election
00:15:41.200and launch what would be a years-long coup against the incoming president-elect.
00:15:46.120This is shocking, but also not surprising, based on what we know about what the left has done to try to take out Donald Trump.
00:15:54.460But we are hearing the name of Barack Obama and exactly what he was trying to do.
00:16:00.500And if you look at the shocking main points here, the director of national intelligence
00:16:05.380is accusing the former president, Barack Obama, and his team of a treasonous conspiracy,
00:16:11.980saying that they clearly manufactured intelligence assessments,
00:16:16.580accusing Russia of aiding Donald Trump in 2016,
00:16:20.220and intentionally, as she described it,
00:16:23.580intentionally was the word that she used to mislead the American people.
00:16:29.620Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:16:34.060Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:16:39.340And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast,
00:16:43.900and we will see you back here tomorrow.