- The Trump administration presented pressure on the office of the director of national intelligence to delete part of a report that Russia concluded was intended to win Trump re-election in 2020.
- When former director of national intelligence Dan Coats refused to delete that conclusion from the report, Trump forced him to retire earlier than planned, according to an investigation by The New York Times Magazine.
- Earlier reports by the FBI, CIA, and NSA concluded that Russia sought to help Trump win in 2016 – and Vladimir Putin publicly stated that he wanted to win Trump – but Trump denied the accuracy of those reports.
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Last year, the administration of President Donald Trump sought intelligence agencies to remove part of a classified report that Russia found trying to help him win the 2020 election, according to an investigation by The New York Times Magazine.
The report, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, was compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in July 2019 and made several “important judgments” on matters of national security. “Key Judgment 2” in the report concluded that Russia intended to intervene in the 2020 elections to help Trump, unnamed national security sources told Times reporter Robert Draper.
Trump was apparently not happy with that. He has repeatedly denied the allegation that Russia tried to help his campaign in 2016 despite reports from the FBI, CIA, NSA, Justice Department, and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee supporting that conclusion. Russian President Vladimir Putin similarly denied interference in the 2016 election, but also said he wanted to win Trump.
When the ODNI finalized last year’s report, Trump administration staff asked that the language be removed in “Key Judgment 2” detailing Russia’s attempt to help Trump in 2020, former director of national intelligence Dan Coats told ‘e Times.
“I can confirm that one of my employees who was aware of the controversy asked me to adjust the assessment,” Coats said. “But I said, ‘No, we have to stick to what the analysts have said.'”
Shortly after that exchange, Coats was surprised to learn that Trump was forcing him into early retirement. He was first made aware of the news when Trump tweeted that the last day of Coats as DNI would be August 15 – months before Coats planned to retire.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 28 July 2019
Following Coats’ departure, the National Intelligence Estimate was published with softer language describing Russia’s potential motivation for interference in the 2020 elections. Instead of immediately concluding that Russia wanted Trump to win in 2020, it was report updated to state that “Russian leaders are likely to consider that opportunities to improve relations with the US will diminish under another US president.”
The changes were made, according to an e-mail checked by the Times, following edits by Beth Sanner, an ODNI official who presents President Donald Trump’s daily national intelligence information.
The episode is part of a broader conflict between Trump and U.S. intelligence communities, Draper reported. After years of FBI investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia, Trump’s Republican allies in Congress are now pushing an investigation into whether the FBI has exaggerated its authority.
