Thursday, August 14, 2025

‘That’s OUR Story’: Clapper Force-Fed Russiagate Narrative to Intelligence Community

'Understand your concern. It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page...'

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A newly declassified email exposed former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper dismissing serious warnings from a top intelligence official about compromising standard procedures in the 2017 assessment on alleged Russian interference.

The email shows Clapper brushing aside concerns from former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, who cautioned against the intelligence community fast-tracking its dubious assessment that Russia meddled in the election to help President Donald Trump.

On Dec. 22, 2016, Rogers emailed Clapper, then–FBI Director James Comey and then–CIA Director John Brennan to warn the NSA lacked “sufficient access.”

Rogers also noted his staffers “aren’t fully comfortable saying that they have had enough time to review all of the intelligence to be absolutely confident in their assessments.”

Clapper’s response implied that the priority was following the Obama White House’s directive, not ensuring accuracy.

“Understand your concern. It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page. and are all supportive of the report — in the highest tradition of ‘that’s OUR story, and we’re stickin’ to it,’” Clapper replied.

“We will facilitate as much mutual transparency as possible as we complete the report. but, more time is not negotiable. We may hate to compromise on our ‘normal’ modalities. since we must do this on such a compressed schedule,” Clapper added.

The exchange came just days after then-President Barack Obama summoned his intelligence chiefs on Dec. 9, 2016, demanding a report detailing the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

The directive was part of a broader effort to delitimize Trump’s victory by claiming Russian interference handing him the win. Newly released files show the intelligence community had no evidence to support that claim.

This is a developing story.

Copyright 2025. No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner other than RSS without the permission of the copyright owner. Distribution via RSS is subject to our RSS Terms of Service and is strictly enforced. To inquire about licensing our content, use the contact form at https://headlineusa.com/advertising.
- Advertisement -

TRENDING NOW

TRENDING NOW