DHS official told to stop Russian interference analysis because it 'made the president look bad', whistleblower complaint claims
Department of Homeland Security senior leadership allegedly told an official to stop analysis of Russian interference in the 2020 election because it “made the President look bad”, according to a whistleblower complaint.
www.independent.co.uk
This is interesting.
According to the whistleblower, officials at DHS, specifically Ken Cuccinelli and Chad Wolf, tried to force the whistleblower (named Murphy) to alter intelligence documents so they “wouldn’t embarrass the president”. Wolf and Cuccinelli ordered Murphy to remove references to Russian election interference and add unrelated info on China and Iran to try and downplay Russia’s actions. Wolf and Cuccinelli also ordered Murphy to weaken intelligence reports on the risks posed by White Supremacists and add info on Antifa, even though the latter didn’t merit inclusion. Wolf also ordered Murphy and another man to “hunt down” anyone in their department affiliated with the “deep state” (ie not loyal enough to Trump) and have them fired or reassigned. Much to his credit, Murphy refused to carry out these actions (and others), telling Wolf and Cuccinelli they were illegal and dangerous to our national security. Wolf then excluded Murphy from further meetings and released the altered intelligence documents via a press leak.
On July 7, 2020, DHS Chief of Staff John Gountanis (“Mr. Gountanis”) sent an e-mail to Mr. Murphy directing him to cease any dissemination of an intelligence notification regarding Russian disinformation efforts until Mr. Murphy had spoken with Mr. Wolf. The two men met on July 8, 2020, at which time Mr. Wolf stated to Mr. Murphy the intelligence notification should be “held” because it “made the President look bad”. Mr. Murphy objected, stating that it was improper to hold a vetted intelligence product for reasons for political embarrassment. In response, Mr. Wolf took steps to exclude Mr. Murphy from relevant future meetings on the subject. The draft product was eventually completed without Mr. Murphy’s involvement and was made public in a leak to the media by unknown individuals. It is Mr. Murphy’s assessment that the analysis in the leaked “completed draft” attempts to place the actions of Russia on par with those of Iran and China in a manner that is misleading and inconsistent with the actual intelligence data.
