Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on Saturday overstated the number of U.S. intelligence agencies that in January concurred on the assessment of the Russian election hacking, following suit behind multiple news outlets that have recently issued corrections on stories about that report.
While discussing her concerns over President Trump “consistently denying” that Russia is responsible for the 2016 presidential election hacking on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” Waters said 17 agencies found proof of Russia’s interference, a number previously published, then retracted by The New York Times and the Associated Press.
Trump and his team “did not delve very deeply into why Putin and people in the Kremlin and others may have been involved in this hacking and you know they didn’t talk about our intelligence agency,” Waters said on MSNBC. “Seventeen of them who have concluded that, yes, they were involved in the hacking, the undermining of our election, the undermining of our democracy.”
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that the assessment of Russian hacking in the presidential election was concluded by three separate intelligence agencies- the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency. The conclusion was then published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which represents the 17 intelligence agencies.
However, Clapper testified, “not all 17 components of the intelligence community” played a role in the investigation.
Both the Homeland Security Department and ODNI issued a statement in October on behalf of the intelligence community that said they were “confident” that Russia was involved in the theft of emails of Democratic officials during the 2016 campaign, which Hillary Clinton herself picked up on and said 17 intelligence communities made the conclusion. But as the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple notes: “Speaking on behalf of a group, however, doesn’t quite equate to ‘all’ members of the group ‘concluding’ the same thing.”
Multiple news outlets in recent weeks have published corrections on stories that incorrectly stated that the intelligence community report was approved by all 17 agencies.
The New York Times published a correction attached to their June 25 article that also claimed the June 6 assessment concluded that 17 agencies approved the assessment.
The Associated Press issued a “clarification” to stories published on April 6, June 2, June 26, and June 29 that all reported 17 agencies approved the Russian hacking conclusions.
Waters’ office did not immediately return a request for comment.
