Trump team fiercely denies ordering analyst to 'rethink' intelligence that undermined him
The White House is lashing out at a New York Times report that a top Trump appointee ordered a career analyst to “rethink” findings that undercut Donald Trump’s use of wartime powers to deport Venezuelan migrants.
A political appointee to Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, ordered senior analyst Michael Collins to redo a classified assessment surrounding the notorious Tren de Aragua gang and its ties to the Venezuelan government, according to the report. A previous intelligence gathering found that the gang was not acting on behalf of Venezuela’s government as Trump and top administration officials have repeatedly claimed, the Times reported.
“It detailed many reasons that the intelligence community as a whole concluded that the gang was not acting under the Venezuelan government’s control,” the report said. Days later, Joe Kent, Gabbard’s acting chief of staff, told Collins to conduct a new assessment.
“An official who has reviewed messages about the assessment said Mr. Kent made the request to Mr. Collins in an email, asking him to ‘rethink’ the earlier analysis,” according to the Times. Kent was “not politicizing the process, but giving his assessment,” the official added.
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But the Trump White House vehemently pushed back on the new reporting.
“Inside the administration, even some officials who do not think Mr. Kent injected politics into the intelligence report are angry for what they see as a blundering intervention,” the Times noted.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence called the Times’ reporting “false and fabricated.”
“It is the deep state’s latest effort to attack this administration from within with an orchestrated op detached from reality,” the spokesperson, Olivia C. Coleman, told the outlet. White House press secretary Karolien Leavitt also defended the administration and its deportation efforts.