Thread by @Eric_Schmitt

. @DNIGabbard has released new, declassified documents revealing that in its final days the Obama Administration plotted to hamper the incoming Trump Administration with a phony Russia collusion narrative.

Here are three verifiable takeaways from the new documents. 🧵

1. The Steele Dossier played a role in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Multiple senior CIA officers argued against its inclusion because
"it failed to meet basic tradecraft standards."

When confronted with these flaws, CIA Director John Brennan
responded, "Yes, but doesn't it ring true," and ordered its inclusion in the ICA anyway.

Even worse, CIA Director Brennan lied about his reliance on the Dossier repeatedly.

Here he is in 2018 telling Meet The Press that it "did not play any role whatsoever in the Intelligence Community Assessment".

He repeated the same line to Congress in 2023 when testified that he had no involvement in analyzing the Dossier.

2. There was never solid evidence for the ICA's assertion that Putin "developed a clear preference" for Trump. The claim relied on dubious evidence that CIA analysts read several different ways.

Again, Brennan overruled the career analysts and forced its inclusion in the ICA.

3. President Obama was much more involved in this sordid affair than previously known.

In the summer 2016, Obama was briefed by Brennan on the Clinton campaign's plan to tarnish Trump by hyping up Russian interference fears.

After Trump historic 2016 victory, President Obama directed the IC to prepare a new report on Russian interference. While the IC previously concluded that Putin sought to sow chaos, this new ICA would conclude that Putin intervened to help Trump win.

This conclusion would then be leaked to the press by the Obama administration on December 9, 2016.

So what did we learn: There was never any real evidence that Putin sought to aid the Trump campaign. Despite that fact, DCIA Brennan, at Obama's direction, forced this conclusion into the ICA and set the stage for a multi-year long collusion hoax.

DOJ should absolutely look at this to determine if any laws were broken. Without a doubt this is one of the biggest political scandals in our nation's history. Our duly-elected president was sabotaged by his predecessor for political gain.

It has taken far too long to get the truth and I am grateful to DNI @TulsiGabbard for finally bringing much needed transparency and sunlight to this shameful episode.