[PJ] The top official in the intelligence community charged with election security overstated and left out facts during a congressional briefing earlier this month.Three national security officials told CNN that the briefer, Shelby Pierson, failed to accurately relay intelligence findings to Congress having to do with Russia helping Donald Trump get re-elected.
The US intelligence community has assessed that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election and has separately assessed that Russia views Trump as a leader they can work with. But the US does not have evidence that Russia's interference this cycle is aimed at reelecting Trump, the officials said.That's a huge, monumental error that raises questions about whether Ms. Pierson gave her own spin on the intel or whether someone else did it for her. Considering what happened the last time that Congress believed Trump was being materially assisted by the Russians, it's hard to overstate the potential impact of this error.
"The intelligence doesn't say that," one senior national security official told CNN. "A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it's a step short of that. It's more that they understand the President is someone they can work with, he's a dealmaker."