(The Hill) – CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he made referrals to the Justice Department for former Obama administration officials following the release of intelligence information about the 2016 election.
Ratcliffe said that former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, and former FBI Director James Comey could all face charges relating to what he called a “hoax” about the election.
Tulsi Gabbard, who now leads DNI in the Trump administration, last week released two sets of documents about the 2016 election.
The files reveal little new information about Russia’s much-studied efforts to influence the 2016 election, but Republicans have nonetheless claimed the intelligence reviews were designed to cast doubt on Trump’s victory. The documents do not undercut a central conclusion: that Russia lunched a massive campaign with the hopes of influencing the contest.
“That’s why I’ve made the referrals that I have, DNI Gabbard has made referrals, and why 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,” Ratcliffe said during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures.
The releases from Gabbard came amid ongoing pressure on the Trump administration to release files related to the controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. They also followed a period in which Gabbard seemed to have lost some clout within the administration.
While Gabbard has claimed the documents she has released show a “treasonous conspiracy,” they largely show intelligence leaders discussing how the Russians were never able to alter vote tabulations — something that was never in dispute and that aligns with what Obama officials said publicly at the time.
What intelligence did find, and which several reviews have since backed, was that Russia embarked on a massive social media campaign in the hopes of sowing division in the U.S.
Last week, Gabbard released another report, this time a classified review led by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. That report cast doubt on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to aid Trump as opposed to sowing discord within the U.S.
In the process of releasing that report, Gabbard infuriated Democrats, who argued she exposed sources and methods for gathering intelligence.
At the time the classified report was conducted, a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report, a panel led at the time by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, backed the conclusion Russia favored Trump.
Nonetheless, the Justice Department has since established a so-called Strike Force to review the information.
Ratcliffe said there would also be additional information released.
“John Brennan testified to John Durham in August of 2020. He also testified to the House Oversight Committee in 2022. Hillary Clinton testified before John Durham under oath in 2022. James Comey testified before the Senate committee in September, 2020. All of that’s within the last five years. And much of that testimony is frankly, completely inconsistent with what our underlying intelligence that is about to be declassified in the Durham Annex — what that reflects,” he said.
“And so, you know, [Attorney General] Pam Bondi does have a strike force. It is a different Department of Justice, a different FBI, and an opportunity to look at how these people really did conspire to run a hoax, a fraud on the American people and against Donald Trump’s presidency.”
