{"id":2469172,"date":"2025-07-31T14:23:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whistleblower-says-he-was-pressured-to-back-russia-intell-under-obama\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T14:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:24:07","slug":"whistleblower-says-he-was-pressured-to-back-russia-intell-under-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whistleblower-says-he-was-pressured-to-back-russia-intell-under-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"Whistleblower says he was pressured to back Russia intell under Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhistleblower-says-he-was-pressured-to-back-russia-intell-under-obama%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2469172&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A senior U.S.<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >intelligence official turned whistleblower revealed<\/a> that during the Obama administration, he was pressured to support flawed intelligence conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. He opposed the official January 2017 assessment that Russia aimed specifically to help elect Donald Trump, stating he &#8220;could not concur in good conscience&#8221; with parts of the report. According to his declassified testimony, he faced exclusion from key discussions and was sidelined after raising concerns about the Steele dossier&#8217;s influence on the intelligence community&#8217;s conclusions.<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblower alleged that intelligence leaders sought to create a false consensus by pushing him to endorse conclusions he believed were unsupported. He also claimed he was instructed to withhold evidence of intercepted communications involving members of the incoming Trump administration. Despite repeated attempts from 2020 to 2022 to bring his concerns to the intelligence community inspector general and special counsel John Durham, his claims received limited follow-up.<\/p>\n<p>Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified the testimony, praising the whistleblower for risking his career to expose alleged manipulation of intelligence at high government levels. Gabbard, aligned with the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to reveal political bias in intelligence during the Obama era, has pledged to release more documents and called for accountability for senior officials. The Department of Justice has formed a task force to examine potential charges related to these revelations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Whistleblower says he was pressured to back flawed Russia intel under Obama<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2191204\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A senior U.S. intelligence official-turned-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/whistleblowers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">whistleblower<\/a> said Obama-era superiors pressured him to endorse flawed conclusions in a high-profile intelligence report on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Russian<\/a> election interference and that he was later cut out of key discussions after raising concerns about the Steele dossier&rsquo;s role in shaping that assessment, according to newly declassified information.<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblower, who served as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-dni-pulled-intel-brief-to-preserve-russia-collusion-hoax\/\" title=\"... DNI Pulled Intel Brief To Preserve ......Collusion Hoax\">deputy national intelligence officer<\/a> at the National Intelligence Council from 2015 to 2020, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.odni.gov\/files\/ODNI\/documents\/DIG\/DIG-Declassified-Whistleblower-Testimony-Obama-Subvert-President-Trump-July2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">declassified statement<\/a> published Thursday that he &ldquo;could not concur in good conscience&rdquo; with parts of the Jan. 6, 2017, intelligence community assessment, which concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the specific goal of helping elect President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3486114\/trump-tariff-face-major-test-before-federal-appeals-court\/\">Trump&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-tariffs-face-major-test-before-federal-appeals-court\/\" title=\"...\u2019s tariffs face major test before federal appeals court\">tariffs face major test<\/a> before federal appeals court<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3486826\/trump-seeks-to-install-his-us-attorneys-despite-democratic-headwinds\/\">Trump seeks to install his US attorneys despite Democratic headwinds<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3485865\/doj-confirms-only-law-enforcement-testified-epstein-maxwell-grand-juries\/\">DOJ confirms only law enforcement testified in Epstein, Maxwell grand juries<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW: Whistleblower reveals how they were threatened by a supervisor to go along with the Obama-directed Russia hoax &ldquo;intelligence&rdquo; assessment, even though they knew it was not credible or accurate. The Whistleblower refused. <\/p>\n<p>Yesterday we released the Whistleblower&#8217;s firsthand&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Oc6mwgSmMq\">pic.twitter.com\/Oc6mwgSmMq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DNIGabbard\/status\/1950946871213453563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 31, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was pressured to alter my views,&rdquo; the whistleblower said, referring to what he called a coordinated push within the intelligence community to show consensus around conclusions he believed were analytically unsupported. &ldquo;My concurrence was sought to enable buy-in from the Defense Intelligence Agency.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The declassified testimony was released Thursday by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tulsi-gabbard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard<\/a>, who praised the whistleblower for &ldquo;putting his own well-being on the line to defend our democratic republic&rdquo; and exposing a manipulation of intelligence &ldquo;at the highest levels of government.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo\/John McDonnell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gabbard, a former Democrat-turned-independent, has been at the center of the Trump administration&rsquo;s push to reveal what it describes as a politically motivated operation under then-President Barack Obama to undermine Trump&rsquo;s 2016 victory.<\/p>\n<p>Due to a redaction on the 10-page document, it is not immediately clear when the whistleblower&rsquo;s statement was drafted. His testimony makes clear that he made attempts from 2020 through at least 2022 to urge the intelligence community inspector general to take his claims seriously, but never received the follow-up engagement that a DOJ representative stated in 2022 would occur.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dissent, sidelining, and Steele<\/h2>\n<p>In the weeks leading up to the 2017 ICA publication, the whistleblower said he was excluded from key discussions despite having led a prior assessment on cyber threats to the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblower said he objected to framing the Russian operation as a bid to help Trump, rather than a broader attempt to sow discord and distrust, which was the intelligence community&rsquo;s view until after Trump won the election and Obama ordered a new assessment. The whistleblower also accused colleagues of omitting the role of other foreign nations, including U.S. allies, in attempting to influence the electorate.<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblower said that, after the election, the intelligence community continued to view the Steele dossier as &ldquo;non-credible sensationalism&rdquo; and noted that &ldquo;to my knowledge the material had never been taken seriously by the IC.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, however, he said he discovered that the now-discredited&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/steele-dossier\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steele dossier<\/a> commissioned by the Clinton campaign had in fact been a &ldquo;factor&rdquo; in the 2017 ICA, contrary to what he was told internally at the time. &ldquo;I felt misled,&rdquo; he said, adding that when he raised the issue with NIC leadership, he was dismissed and subsequently removed from the internal &ldquo;ELECTION_INFLUENCE&rdquo; email distribution list.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A pattern of concealment<\/h2>\n<p>The whistleblower also claimed he was instructed in 2016 to conceal from the National Security Council evidence of intercepted communications from members of the incoming Trump administration. That alleged instruction, he said, came as he was working under then-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/james-clapper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DNI James Clapper<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;then-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-brennan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CIA Director John Brennan<\/a>, both of whom were involved in crafting the ICA at Obama&rsquo;s direction.<\/p>\n<p>He brought his concerns to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/intelligence-community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> intelligence community inspector general<\/a>&nbsp;beginning in 2019 and held multiple recorded interviews with inspector general staff over the next several years. In 2022, after the inspector general said it had no authority to forward his information to the Justice Department, he initiated contact himself with a representative of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-durham\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">special counsel John Durham<\/a>, who acknowledged receipt of his emails but never followed up.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I do not know if Special Counsel Durham has ever been made aware of my concerns or data,&rdquo; the whistleblower wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The House Permanent Select Committee on Investigation found that Brennan insisted that the underlying intelligence about Trump and Russia remain strictly limited to just a handful of hand-picked analysts, but then distributed the classified report that concluded Russia wanted to help Trump win, which was based on that intelligence, to an &ldquo;extraordinarily high number&rdquo; of officials.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Political fallout<\/h2>\n<p>The whistleblower&rsquo;s account is the latest in a string of disclosures by the Trump administration as it seeks to expose what officials now describe as a deliberate campaign to weaponize the intelligence apparatus against Trump during the transition period in late 2016 and early 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Gabbard declassified documents and emails showing that the intelligence community did not believe Russia was trying to help Trump win until Obama ordered a new ICA after the election. CIA Director&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-ratcliffe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Ratcliffe<\/a>&nbsp;has also declassified a review and excerpts of communications showing senior officials disagreed with the use of unreliable intelligence to justify the conclusion that Russia wanted to help Trump win.<\/p>\n<p>Gabbard has pledged to release more documents in the coming weeks and has called for senior Obama-era officials such as Brennan, Clapper, and Obama himself to be held accountable for misleading the public.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3487303\/declassified-durham-annex-clinton-plan-trump-russia-hoax\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">DECLASSIFIED DURHAM ANNEX REVEALS FBI IGNORED EVIDENCE OF A CLINTON PLAN TO CREATE RUSSIA HOAX<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The DOJ has assembled a task force to determine whether any necessary charges can or should be brought against the former officials. Figures such as Ratcliffe have pushed back on legal analysts who say the statute of limitations may hamper the department&rsquo;s ability to build a criminal case.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The American people deserve to know exactly what happened,&rdquo; Gabbard said Thursday. &ldquo;And they will.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2191204\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2191204\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whistleblower claims Obama officials pressured him to support flawed Russia intel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3968,"featured_media":2469173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Barack-Obama-uuj5.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[38085,38533,60346,14057,35730],"class_list":["post-2469172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-obama-administration","tag-political-pressure","tag-russia-intelligence","tag-whistleblower","tag-whistleblowing"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Barack-Obama-uuj5.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3968"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2469172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2469176,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469172\/revisions\/2469176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2469173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2469172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2469172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2469172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}