Obama administration rushed to preserve intelligence of Russian election hacking
WASHINGTON — In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald Trump and Russians — across the government. Former U.S. officials said they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling is not duplicated in future U.S. or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.
U.S. allies, including the British and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials — and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin — and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former U.S. officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence. Separately, U.S. intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with
Trump’s associates.
Then and now, Trump has denied his campaign had any contact with Russian officials, and at one point he openly suggested U.S. spy agencies had cooked up intelligence suggesting the Russian government had tried to meddle in the presidential election. Trump has accused the Obama administration of hyping the Russia storyline as a way to discredit his new administration.
At the Obama White House, Trump’s statements stoked fears among some that intelligence could be covered up or destroyed —
or its sources exposed — once power changed hands. What followed was a push to preserve the intelligence that underscored the deep anxiety with which the White House and U.S. intelligence agencies had come to view the threat from Moscow.
It also reflected the suspicion among many in the Obama White House the Trump campaign might have colluded with Russia on election email hacks — a suspicion U.S. officials say has not been confirmed. Former senior Obama administration officials said none of the efforts were directed by then-President Barack Obama.
“The only new piece of information that has come to light is that political appointees in the Obama administration have sought to create a false narrative to make an excuse for their own defeat in the election. There continues to be no there, there,” said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.
As Inauguration Day approached, Obama White House officials grew convinced the intelligence was damning and they needed to ensure that as many people as possible inside government could see it, even if people without security clearances could not. Some officials began asking specific questions at intelligence briefings, knowing the answers would be archived and could be easily unearthed by investigators — including the Senate Intelligence Committee, which in early January announced an inquiry into Russian efforts to influence the election.
The opposite happened with the most sensitive intelligence, including the names of sources and the identities of foreigners who were regularly monitored. Officials tightened the already small number of people who could access that information. They knew the information could not be kept from the new president or his top advisers, but wanted to narrow the number of people who might see the information, officials said.
More than a half-dozen current and former officials described various aspects of the effort to preserve and distribute the intelligence, and some said they were speaking to draw attention to the material and ensure proper investigation by Congress. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information, nearly all of which remains secret, making an independent public assessment of the competing Obama and Trump administration claims impossible.
The FBI is conducting a wide-ranging counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election and is examining alleged links between Trump’s associates and the Russian government.
Separately, the House and Senate intelligence committees are conducting their own investigations, though they must rely on information collected by the FBI and intelligence agencies.