Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard allegedly overruled officials in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other agencies to redact more “sensitive information” in her July release of documents regarding “Russiagate,” anonymous sources told the The Washington Post (WaPo).
The WaPo article published Wednesday claimed officials in the CIA were afraid the version of a House report on the 2016 election, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), revealed “top-secret spying techniques and sources.”
They requested she submit a more redacted version to be approved for release by President Donald Trump, the sources told WaPo. (RELATED: ‘Inevitable’: Tulsi Gabbard Details Why Russia Believed Hillary Would Defeat Trump)
The report in question was a 2020 review of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on “Russia’s Influence Campaign Targeting the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election” by the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) which found senior intelligence officials suppressed evidence that countered the narrative that Russia preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton.
The findings counter claims that intelligence officials previously leaked to the WaPo. The only classified information referenced in the ICA to demonstrate Putin’s preference towards Trump is one “scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of these substandard reports,” according to the HPSCI review.
I just read the most embarrassingly bad Washington Post story about the release of the explosive and long-hidden House Intel Committee report detailing how Brennan cooked up the false claim that Russia interfered in 2016 *to help Trump* …
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 7, 2025
While the report cited the response of “Democratic lawmakers” and “former Democratic officials,” the WaPo primarily relied upon “multiple people familiar with the matter” for the crux of its article.
The “multiple people” cited to support the thesis of the article consisted of “one person familiar with how the report was released,” “a person familiar with the process” and “current and former U.S. officials.” WaPo said the sources were anonymous “because of the matter’s sensitivity.”
WaPo quoted a source, referred to only as “a person familiar with the process,” on how the file was released. That person reportedly said the report underwent several reviews by intelligence officials and ODNI lawyers.
Current and former U.S. officials claimed Gabbard pushed to publicize as much of the document as possible. (RELATED: Trump 2.0 Takes Chainsaw To The Deep State With Historic Cuts Of Staff, Budgets)
“CIA put forward their proposed redactions and edits to the document,” a person familiar told the WaPo.
The source noted Gabbard has greater “declassification authority” than the other agencies, and she “is not required to get their approval prior to release,” according to WaPo’s report.
Trump approved Gabbard’s version of the report “with minimal redactions and no edits,” a person familiar told WaPo.
The CIA declined to comment on whether any action would be taken against alleged leakers. Although, the ODNI has referred potential leakers to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the past.
CIA Director of Public Affairs, Liz Lyons, told the Daily Caller that Director John Ratcliffe supports releasing the HPSCI report.
“CIA Director Ratcliffe strongly supports the public release of HPSCI’s report, which was the result of a process initiated by CIA and led by DNI Gabbard. This effort reflects Director Ratcliffe’s continued commitment to elevating the truth and bringing transparency to the American people and would not have been possible without his directive to return it to the committee,” Lyons said in a statement to the Caller.
The CIA declined to comment on whether any action would be taken against alleged leakers. Although, the ODNI has referred potential leakers to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the past.
🧵 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
Another file recently released by Gabbard regarding early investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election revealed that “Deep State officials in the [intelligence community began] leaking blatantly false intelligence to [WaPo].”
One leak to the WaPo claimed the CIA had “concluded in a secret assessment” that Russia interfered to help Trump, according to the ODNI’s report.
The WaPo and The New York Times previously won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for their “deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage” on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (RELATED: Associated Press Runs Sympathetic Story Checking On Hezbollah Terrorists Injured In ‘Grim Beeper’ Operation)
Critics however, including Trump and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, have slammed the WaPo’s award. Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board in 2022, and Patel stated Saturday he is considering releasing more FBI documents to “see who is lying.”
“[W]ouldn’t want to deprive the fake news of more bogus Pulitzers,” he added.
