Ex-CIA official: Intelligence on Russian election interference was 'extremely sound' and verified
Retired CIA official Susan Miller, an author of the agencyâs 2017 intelligence report on Russian election meddling, is vowing to fight any potential criminal charges .
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.
âMy team and I, just yesterday, had a few drinks and talked about that, and talked about what lawyers weâd be looking for, if that happens,â Miller told CNNâs Kaitlan Collins Friday.
âBut Iâll do it. Iâll fight, Iâll fight to the end,â she added.
Pushing back against Gabbardâs accusations, Miller said that no one â including then-President Barack Obama or then-CIA Director John Brennan â had told her team what conclusion to reach in their report. âAbsolutely not,â 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 âwas extremely sound and it was verified.â Miller also said her team briefed Trump at the time.
She went on to say that the reportâs findings were ânot at allâ 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 Clintonâs campaign. It alleged coordination between the Russian government and people associated with the Trump campaign, though its ultimate credibility was limited.
While Millerâs team âcould determine that 100%â Russia tried to influence the 2016 election, itâs indeterminable whether Moscowâs efforts worked, Miller said.
âBut the bottom line is, yes, they tried to influence it. No, unless we poll every voter as to why they voted, we canât tell you if that worked. And therefore, from our perspective, Trump is our president. And we just left it at that,â she told CNN.
In a statement, the White House praised Gabbard and described the 2017 intelligence report and its findings as a âtotal hoax and political witch hunt to snub President Trumpâs historic first term in office.â
âI think it is wrong in every single way,â Miller told CNN in response and warned of Gabbardâs attacks against the report and its findings.
âWhat Tulsi is saying is: âWe only want to hear anything thatâs pro-Trump, pro-Trump policy ⊠pro-current Republican Party from any of our intel services, and if we hear anything thatâs not that, then weâre going to come after you.â And thatâs what it feels like. And so, what analyst wants to put his or her, their name on any paper now?â she said.
Miller said she and her team told the truth and the information was well-sourced.
âWe looked at everything, and weâre being now told that we somehow did it wrong, we didnât 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 doesnât make sense to me. It just doesnât. It really is sad.â
CNNâs Alejandra Jaramillo and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.