FACT-CHECKING BRENNAN AND CLAPPER’S FALSE RUSSIAGATE NARRATIVE IN NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED

“That is patently false,” they wrote. “In making those allegations, they seek to rewrite history. We want to set the record straight and, in doing so, sound a warning.”

While the pair admit some critics say the investigation could have been handled better, “multiple, thorough, yearslong reviews of the assessment have validated its findings and the rigor of its analysis.”

A chief source they noted was a bipartisan Senate assessment of the Russia report, which featured Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he served in the Senate. The assessment found that the intelligence officials were “under no politically motivated pressure” when they made the Russia report.

They also noted that Justice Department special counsel John Durham, who was appointed during Trump’s first term, found no evidence of an “Obama administration conspiracy against Mr. Trump,” but did concur with the Mueller investigation that found Russian interference in the election.

“Every serious review has substantiated the intelligence community’s fundamental conclusion that the Russians conducted an influence campaign intended to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election,” they wrote.

Clapper and Brennan also sought to defend themselves on three issues: the Steele Dossier, whether their intelligence assessment on Russia made a judgment as it pertained to Russian interference in the election, and alleged “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Steele Dossier is a series of memos written by a former British intelligence agent about the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia at the behest of Democrats and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Clapper and Brennan opposed Gabbard’s conclusion that the Steele Dossier played a significant role in the intelligence assessment, instead noting “the dossier was not used as a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions.”

They said it was only used as a “separate annex only to the most highly classified version of the document that contained the assessment,” with the annex explaining why the dossier was not used in the assessment.

The pair also said the intelligence assessment did not conclude anything about Russian information operations on the outcome of the 2016 election. “Russian influence operations might have shaped the views of Americans before they entered the voting booth, but we found no evidence that the Russians changed any actual votes,” they wrote.

Lastly, the pair wrote that there was “no mention of ‘collusion’” in the intelligence assessment, “nor any reference to the publicly acknowledged contacts that had taken place.”

The two former intelligence officials said they “did everything we could” to prevent the report from being leaked and politicized. “We knew such reports would be political dynamite,” they wrote.

Then they turned their ire to the Trump administration, saying they are the ones politicizing the reports in an attempt at a “calculated distortion of intelligence.” Clapper and Brennan called on the Trump administration to take bipartisan action in stifling Russia’s efforts to interfere in U.S. elections.

“We find it deeply regrettable that the administration continues to perpetuate the fictitious narrative that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election. It should instead acknowledge that a foreign nation-state — a mortal enemy of the United States — routinely meddles in our national elections and will continue to do so unless we take appropriate bipartisan action to stop it,” they concluded.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said earlier this week that Brennan and Clapper could face charges regarding the intelligence assessment. “We’re gonna continue to share the intelligence that would support the ability of our Department of Justice to make fair and just, bring fair and justice claims against those who have perpetrated this hoax against the American people and this stain on our country,” he said.

GABBARD REFERS OBAMA FOR PROSECUTION BUT STOPS SHORT OF SUGGESTING ‘TREASON’ CHARGES

Gabbard referred Obama and other top aides for prosecution last week, but stopped short of slapping them with treason charges.

“There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Barack Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew that was false,” Gabbard claimed. “The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.”