Reams of documents, new and old, reveal that the intelligence community worked diligently against the public release of information related to its investigation of Russia’s alleged intervention to assist then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election. Proponents of the intelligence community argue this was done to preserve national security, but detractors believe the roadblocks were elements of a plot to harm the incoming president’s reputation.

Some of the newest records related to the intelligence community’s push against Russia investigation transparency came on July 23, when the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s Republican staff released a memorandum detailing ways the then-director of national intelligence, the FBI, and, according to a statement made to the Washington Examiner by a HPSCI staffer, the CIA obstructed the drafting of its classified 2020 majority report, which DNI Tulsi Gabbard declassified and released last week. The majority report revealed numerous holes in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which found that Russia sought to help Trump win the White House in 2016.