What to know
- Newly declassified Dec. 22, 2016 emails indicate DNI James Clapper pressed to “compromise” normal procedures to rush the 2017 Russia ICA amid NSA concerns.
- DNI Tulsi Gabbard declassified and released the emails on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, and sent the documents to the Justice Department.
- Then-NSA Director Mike Rogers warned Brennan, Clapper, and Comey that NSA lacked full access and time to review underlying intelligence; Gabbard has called for prosecutions.
Declassified emails from Dec. 22, 2016, released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, show internal disagreements over how quickly the Intelligence Community Assessment on Russia was assembled ahead of President Trump’s inauguration. The messages indicate former DNI James Clapper pushed to move faster and “compromise” standard procedures, while then-NSA Director Mike Rogers raised objections.
The email at the center of the dispute was sent by Rogers to CIA Director John Brennan, DNI James Clapper, and FBI Director James Comey. Rogers opened by noting the rush to deliver findings to the president and flagged concerns from his team about access and time.
“I’ve just returned from a TDY overseas and been updated on the current status of our efforts to produce a joint product related to Russian attribution and intent for the DNC/DCCC hacks,” then-NSA Director Mike Rogers wrote in the email. “I know that this activity is on a fast-track and that folks have been working very hard to put together a product that can be provided to the president. However, I wanted to reach out to you directly to let you know of some concerns I have with what I am hearing from my folks,” Mike Rogers wrote.
Rogers said NSA staff were “forward-leaning” but still not fully comfortable with the speed of the process.
“Specifically, I asked my team if they’d had sufficient access to the underlying intelligence and sufficient time to review that intelligence. On both points my team raised concerns. They were clear that, at the staff level, folks have been forward-leaning and trying to ensure that we have an opportunity to review and weigh in, but I’m concerned that, given the expedited nature of this activity, my folks aren’t fully comfortable saying that they have had enough time to review all of the intelligence to be absolutely confident in their assessments.”
He urged a process all three agencies could defend jointly.
“I know that you agree that this is something we need to be 100% comfortable with before we present it to the President—we have one chance to get this right, and it is critical that we do so. If the intent is to create an integrated product that is CIA/FBI/NSA jointly-authored that we can all defend, we need a process that allows us all to be comfortable, and I’m concerned we are not there yet,” Mike Rogers wrote.
The release follows earlier disclosures. Gabbard says a presidential briefing from December 2016, declassified last month, assessed that foreign actors did not alter the outcome of that year’s election via cyber operations. The document stated: “We assess that foreign adversaries did not use cyber attacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome this year. We have no evidence of cyber manipulation of election infrastructure intended to alter results,” and, “We assess that Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure,” the report said.
Recent reports have also alleged that Brennan, Comey, and Clapper coordinated closely in 2016 on the Trump-Russia probe before President Trump took office. Gabbard has framed the new emails as evidence of politicized intelligence work and has referred the documents to the Justice Department.
“These documents detail a treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate,” Tulsi Gabbard said.
