Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, defended the House Intelligence Committee’s conclusion that Russian interference in the 2016 election favored President Trump, contradicting past intelligence reports by taking aim at the CIA.
The members of the U.S. intelligence community released a report in January 2017 stating they determined with “high confidence” Russian President Vladimir Putin approved an “influence campaign” during the 2016 election that would assist Trump and negatively impact his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
But Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, challenged those who are questioning the House panel’s findings.
“I have spent a couple days out to the CIA actually reading the raw intelligence, actually reading what we were basing this on. And when we release that report, we’re going to be able to show, you know what, the CIA just got it wrong,” Stewart said.
“The CIA is not perfect,” Stewart said, noting everyone makes mistakes.
“The CIA just got it wrong,” says Rep. Chris Stewart about the intelligence community’s assessment that Russian President Putin was trying to help the Trump campaign over Hillary Clinton. “They just misinterpreted some very key intelligence and drew the wrong conclusions.” pic.twitter.com/xeadNys8UL
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 13, 2018
Earlier on Monday, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who has spearheaded the House panel’s investigation, said Republicans on the panel believe Russians meddled in the 2016 election, but disagree with past U.S. intelligence reports that claim Russian interference favored Trump.
“The bottom line: The Russians did commit active measures against our election in ’16, and we think they will do that in the future,” Conaway said, noting, “We disagree with the narrative that they were trying to help Trump.”
James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, stood by past reports from the U.S. intelligence community and disagreed with conclusions from the Republicans on the House panel.
“I obviously disagree. The four intelligence chiefs all agreed with the assessment, which was based on highly classified intelligence,” Clapper told CNN. “This is a case of people living in their own reality bubbles when we can’t agree on basic facts.”
