Retired CIA official rebuts Gabbard's claims about US intelligence on Russian election interference

CNN

4 days ago

Retired CIA official Susan Miller, an author of the agency's 2017 intelligence report on Russian election meddling, is vowing to fight any potential criminal charges brought by the Trump administration.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has accused the Obama administration of manufacturing the intelligence report, which assessed that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump, and said she made criminal referrals to the Justice Department.
'My team and I, just yesterday, had a few drinks and talked about that, and talked about what lawyers we'd be looking for, if that happens,' Miller told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on 'The Source' on Friday.
'But I'll do it. I'll fight, I'll fight to the end,' she added.
Pushing back against Gabbard's accusations, Miller said that no one – including then-President Barack Obama or then-CIA Director John Brennan – had told her team what conclusion to reach in their report. 'Absolutely not,' she said. She added that she and her team would have quit if they had faced such pressure.
Miller said the intelligence that helped them reach their conclusion 'was extremely sound and it was verified.' Miller also said her team briefed Trump at the time.
She went on to say that the report's findings were 'not at all' based on the so-called Steele dossier, which was included as an addendum.
The infamous dossier was written by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, and funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign. It alleged coordination between the Russian government and people associated with the Trump campaign, though its ultimate credibility was limited.
While Miller's team 'could determine that 100%' Russia tried to influence the 2016 election, it's indeterminable whether Moscow's efforts worked, Miller said.
'But the bottom line is, yes, they tried to influence it. No, unless we poll every voter as to why they voted, we can't tell you if that worked. And therefore, from our perspective, Trump is our president. And we just left it at that,' she told CNN.
In a statement, the White House praised Gabbard and described the 2017 intelligence report and its findings as a 'total hoax and political witch hunt to snub President Trump's historic first term in office.'
'I think it is wrong in every single way,' Miller told CNN in response and warned of Gabbard's attacks against the report and its findings.
'What Tulsi is saying is: 'We only want to hear anything that's pro-Trump, pro-Trump policy … pro-current Republican Party from any of our intel services, and if we hear anything that's not that, then we're going to come after you.' And that's what it feels like. And so, what analyst wants to put his or her, their name on any paper now?' she said.
Miller said she and her team told the truth and the information was well sourced.
'We looked at everything, and we're being now told that we somehow did it wrong, we didn't have analysts involved, when three of my team were analysts. We had rigorous analytic reviews by our then-head of analysis. And it just, it doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't. It really is sad.'
CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.