WaPo Spins Hard While Tulsi Gabbard Outs Russiagate Deception

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard reportedly overruled officials within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other intelligence agencies to allow fewer redactions in a publicly released House report concerning Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a Washington Post article published Wednesday.

Citing anonymous sources described as “multiple people familiar with the matter,” the Washington Post claimed that CIA officials were concerned that the version of the report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) revealed “top-secret spying techniques and sources.”

Intelligence officials reportedly requested a more heavily redacted version for approval by President Donald Trump.

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The report in question was a review conducted by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) in 2020.

It evaluated the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on “Russia’s Influence Campaign Targeting the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election” and found that senior intelligence officials allegedly suppressed evidence that contradicted the narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin favored Trump over Hillary Clinton.

According to the HPSCI review, the classified evidence cited in the ICA to support claims of Putin’s preference was limited to “one scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of these substandard reports.”

The Washington Post article noted that Gabbard, who as DNI holds broad declassification authority, reportedly chose to minimize redactions despite internal pushback.

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

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“CIA put forward their proposed redactions and edits to the document,” one anonymous source told the outlet.

However, the source stated that Gabbard “is not required to get their approval prior to release.”

The article also reported that the version of the HPSCI report approved by President Trump was released “with minimal redactions and no edits,” citing a source familiar with the review process.

The report had undergone several rounds of examination by intelligence officials and legal staff within the ODNI.

CIA Director of Public Affairs Liz Lyons issued a statement to the Daily Caller on behalf of Director John Ratcliffe, supporting the release of the 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.

The CIA declined to comment on whether any action would be taken regarding the sources of leaks to the media. In the past, the ODNI has referred alleged unauthorized disclosures to the Department of Justice.

🧵 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

In a related development, another file recently released by the ODNI regarding earlier stages of the Russia investigation stated that “Deep State officials in the [intelligence community began leaking blatantly false intelligence to [WaPo].”

According to the report, one such leak included a claim that the CIA had “concluded in a secret assessment” that Russia’s interference was specifically intended to help elect Trump.

The Washington Post and The New York Times jointly received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for their coverage of the Russia investigation, praised at the time for being “deeply sourced” and “relentlessly reported.”

However, the reporting has since come under fire. President Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board in 2022.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel also criticized the award, suggesting on Saturday that he may release additional FBI documents.

“Wouldn’t want to deprive the fake news of more bogus Pulitzers,” Patel said.