Press Releases

Crawford on the Release of the HPSCI Majority Staff Report Providing the Unprecedented & Overdue Truth on the Russia Collusion Hoax

Connects the Dots for the American People Once & For All 

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (AR-01) released the following statement in response to the declassification and release of the 2017 HPSCI Majority staff report that exposes an unprecedented level of truth about the politically-driven Obama-era Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) which falsely legitimized and fueled the Russia collusion hoax against President Trump and the American people.

“This report is the final nail in the coffin of the Russia hoax, which has perpetrated the greatest political fraud on the American people for over 8 years and undermined President Trump’s first term in office. This HPSCI staff report, for the first time, exposes in-depth details on how the Intelligence Community manufactured the Russia collusion hoax.

“This garbage ICA exploited the credibility that comes with the word ‘intelligence’ in the eyes of the American people. In reality, the HPSCI Majority staff report documents this product was, at best, a failure to follow basic standards that would get a student expelled from school and, at worst, a direct and intentional misrepresentation of available information.

“The Russia hoax will go down as one of the most troublesome events in U.S. history. A President of the United States was falsely accused, and a nation had to endure lies fabricated by rogue personnel within their own Intelligence Community. To this day, our country is more polarized than ever before, and the Russia hoax played a role in that. There are still Americans who passionately believe the fabricated narrative. That is why releasing this document to the public has been so important.

“A handful of unelected bureaucrats at the CIA, with approval and encouragement from CIA Director Brennan and FBI Director Comey, were able to cobble together pieces of ‘intelligence,’ in some cases unrelated and unsourced, lacking credibility—to create a ‘Frankenstein’ report that supported the political story they wanted told.

“When I became Chair, I swore we would address analytic integrity and start holding those who refuse to do the right thing accountable. I refuse to let this Committee become part of the problem that envelopes portions of the IC. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it begins with bold action. As I’ve said before, the politicization of intelligence that policymakers depend on to inform decisions, and in this case, inform the American people, is never acceptable. This matters regardless of who is the President. Under this Committee’s oversight, change will happen. And under the leadership of DNI Gabbard and CIA Director Ratcliffe, the IC, specifically the CIA, is poised to undergo wholesale reform in light of this new information, placing them on the path to regaining the trust of the American people.

“I want to thank former HPSCI Chairman Nunes for spearheading this effort back in 2017 and the staff who spent endless hours investigating and drafting this report under untold levels of obstruction by the CIA. Ultimately, thanks to President Trump, light is illuminating the truth.”

The Committee report clearly lays out that the IC had evidence that—

• Putin had no preference as to who won the 2016 Presidential Election, as evidenced by reliable intelligence that was ignored in the ICA
• Putin expected Hillary Clinton to win
• Russia had explosive information on Hillary Clinton’s poor health and on possible criminal acts by federal agency employees—information that Putin could have used to help elect President Trump—but Putin chose to keep the information in reserve so it could be used against Clinton after she was elected President

The Committee report clearly documents how, to further the Russia hoax, the CIA career analysts who authored the ICA engaged in analytic tradecraft malpractice, including through:

• Ignoring intelligence showing that during the 2016 campaign, Russia declined to release explosive allegations about Hillary Clinton’s health and possible illegal actions by government employees to aid her campaign
• Manufacturing evidence that Putin’s inner circle preferred Republican candidates over Democratic candidates
• Failing to disclose that the Russia hoax was based on information from the Hillary Clinton campaign, and other known opponents of President Trump
• Using reports they knew to be unreliable to make the main argument of the ICA
• Misrepresenting the intelligence by incorporating cherry-picking reports and placing them out of context
• Referencing intel reports that have nothing to do with the topic of the ICA
• Failing to follow mandated intelligence community standards

In March 2025, Chairman Crawford provided the Committee report to the CIA for a sanitation review for future release. Following Chairman Crawford’s letter to President Trump, the Chairman provided the White House and ODNI a copy of the report, at their request.

Read the HPSCI Majority staff report here.

Read more on the background of the 2017 HPSCI staff report here. 

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