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A retired senior CIA officer who helped lead the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election is accusing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and the Trump White House of promoting false claims that the report was politically motivated.
Susan Miller, who served 39 years in the CIA and led the internal team tasked with evaluating Russia’s activities during the election, told NBC News this week that the report was based on solid intelligence and was never intended to undermine President Donald Trump.
“The director of national intelligence and the White House are lying, again,” Miller said. “We definitely had the intel to show with high probability that the specific goal of the Russians was to get Trump elected.”
Miller’s remarks came in response to recent comments by Gabbard, who alleged the assessment was part of a “treasonous conspiracy” by the Obama administration. Gabbard cited a 2020 report by House Republicans suggesting there was insufficient evidence to conclude Russia aimed to support Trump.
Miller flatly rejected that claim.
“It is clear that Trump and his followers have a script they want to follow, despite the facts,” she said.
Miller emphasized that the intelligence community found no evidence of collusion between Trump or his campaign and Russian operatives. But she defended the conclusion that Russian disinformation campaigns and hacking efforts were intended to damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and assist Trump’s.
“We just kept ourselves neutral,” Miller said. “We just decided to let the data speak for itself. … We had very, very good data coming in.”
FBI Push to Include Steele Dossier
According to Miller, the intelligence assessment was nearly finalized when then-FBI Director James Comey requested the inclusion of the now-controversial Steele dossier — a collection of unverified claims about Trump. CIA officials, including Miller, opposed its inclusion, but the FBI threatened to withhold support for the assessment unless it was attached.
The final report included the dossier in an annex, with a disclaimer noting that its contents were unverified.
“We had already written the paper,” Miller said. “It’s going to take us another six months to go and try to figure out if this is true.”
Political Fallout and Internal Scrutiny
Miller later faced questioning from the Trump administration’s special counsel, John Durham, who probed the origins of the Russia investigation. She said Durham’s team asked her questions implying political bias, including whether she “hated Republicans.”
“Actually, if you look at my registration, I’m a Republican,” Miller said.
She was never charged or disciplined. However, she said the process reflected the intense political pressure placed on intelligence professionals at the time.
Earlier this month, Gabbard declassified an internal CIA “lessons learned” review, which found some procedural flaws in how the report was compiled but did not dispute the report’s findings.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence rejected Miller’s statements, pointing to the House Republican report. “Susan is wrong,” said ODNI spokesperson Olivia Coleman.
Bipartisan Senate Report Supported Original Assessment
While House Republicans cast doubt on the intelligence community’s findings, a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report released in 2020 strongly affirmed the original conclusion: that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump.
That report was endorsed by then-Senate Intelligence Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who now serves as Secretary of State in Trump’s administration.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle stood by Gabbard, claiming the declassified documents proved the Obama administration tried to smear Trump. Former President Obama’s spokesperson called the accusations “outrageous” and “a weak attempt at distraction.”
Miller warned that the ongoing political fight over the intelligence findings only serves the interests of America’s adversaries.
“Putin and his BFFs in the Kremlin are toasting vodka shots as we speak at the turmoil this is creating,” she said.
