CIA Director John Ratcliffe said during a Wednesday hearing that the United States had moved on the Iranian regime in part because of the &#8220;alarming&#8221; rate at which Iran was building and stockpiling weapons that could have eventually been fired at Americans or American allies.
Ratcliffe took questions from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the reasons President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration had viewed Iran as an imminent threat, saying the regime had been pressing onward with missile development at a rate that American defenses would not have been able to match.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: According to CIA Director Ratcliffe, Iran was developing missiles “at rates that were alarming” and faster than the United States could build defenses. <a href="https://t.co/AXrGBsgtfM">pic.twitter.com/AXrGBsgtfM</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/2034300261104033882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When asked by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) whether Iran was continuing production of both short and midrange ballistic missiles, Ratcliffe&#8217;s answer was a definitive yes.
&#8220;Yes &#8230; continuing to develop them, and at rates that were alarming,&#8221; Ratcliffe confirmed.
&#8220;And what about our ability to respond to those? We have very good defensive capabilities, but it takes time for us to build our defensive capabilities,&#8221; Rounds continued. &#8220;Were they building their offensive capabilities while they were negotiating with us at a faster rate than we could build defensive capabilities?&#8221;
&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Ratcliffe declared.
&#8220;Were they continuing to work at and deliver additional resources to terrorist organizations that were affiliated with them in the region?&#8221; Rounds pressed onward.
&#8220;Yes,&#8221; was Ratcliffe&#8217;s reply.
Rounds noted once again that all of this was taking place while Iran was supposedly negotiating with the United States.
&#8220;So in other words, while they were supposedly diplomatically working with us during that entire time, they were continuing with regard to their nuclear intentions, they were building additional missile systems to deliver — or conventional weapons systems — to threaten their neighbors,&#8221; Rounds pieced it all together, saying that the end result could have been far more dangerous when eventually the United States would have been forced to go in and &#8220;clean&#8221; things up.
Rounds further stated that he agreed with the Trump administration&#8217;s assessment that, if such a thing were possible, it would be &#8220;safer&#8221; for the United States to deal with the threat posed by Iran before such capabilities could be fully realized.
&#8220;I agree with that,&#8221; Ratcliffe said.

John Ratcliffe

CIA Director Lifts Lid On What Iran Was Quietly Building At Blistering Pace

CIA Director: Iran Was Making Weapons At An 'Alarming' Rate, U.S. Defenses Couldn't Keep Up

Donald Trump

Iran

Politics

Senate Intelligence Committee

Before the missiles ever lit up the Tehran sky, the hunt was already over.
For months, U.S. intelligence officials were quietly tracking the movements of Iran’s most powerful men, piecing together a detailed picture of where and when they would gather. Analysts monitored patterns, locations, and leadership schedules — waiting for a rare window when the regime’s top figures would be in one place at the same time.
That window came early Saturday morning in Tehran, when senior political and military leaders assembled inside a heavily guarded compound housing the offices of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the presidency, and the Supreme National Security Council.
According to The New York Times, citing people familiar with the operation and officials briefed on the intelligence, the CIA had tracked Khamenei for months and passed what&#8217;s described as “high fidelity” intelligence on his location to Israel ahead of the strike. U.S. and Israeli officials reportedly adjusted the timing of the operation after learning that multiple senior leaders would be gathered together.
Israel had assessed that those expected at the compound included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Military Council head Admiral Ali Shamkhani, IRGC Aerospace Force commander Majid Mousavi, and Deputy Intelligence Minister Mohammad Shirazi, among others.
Around 8 a.m. Tehran time, Israeli fighter jets reportedly took off, armed with long-range precision munitions. Roughly two hours later, missiles struck multiple locations in Tehran, including the leadership compound.
Senior national security officials were gathered in one building, while Khamenei was in another nearby structure, the Times reported. An Israeli defense official claimed that the strike was “carried out simultaneously at several locations in Tehran,” adding that Israel achieved “tactical surprise” despite Iranian preparations for war.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA also confirmed Sunday the deaths of several senior military figures Israel said it targeted, including Shamkhani, Pakpour, and Nasirzadeh.
Hours after Khamenei’s death was confirmed and Iran’s leadership reeled from the blow, Tehran unleashed a volley of retaliatory missiles and rockets toward Israel — fulfilling vows from Iranian officials to launch the “fiercest offensive in history” in response to what they called an unprovoked attack and the killing of their supreme leader. The strikes triggered sustained air-raid sirens across Israeli cities, forcing residents into shelters as air defenses worked overtime.
As of the latest reports, Israeli rescue services and military officials have said that at least ten people have been killed on Israeli soil from Iran’s retaliation — including civilians in Beit Shemesh and Tel Aviv — and dozens more wounded across central and southern regions as a result of incoming missiles and intercept debris.
Last June, as plans were being discussed to potentially strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, President Donald Trump said the United States knew where Khamenei was hiding and could have killed him. At the time, Trump referred to the Iranian regime as “evil,” underscoring how he viewed the leadership in Tehran.
Months of surveillance and intelligence coordination converged in a strike that reshaped Iran’s power structure in a matter of minutes — and ignited one of the most volatile escalations in Middle East history.

Precision From The Shadows — How The CIA Locked In On Khamenei And An ‘Evil’ Regime

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Global Politics

World

CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday in Caracas to discuss economic cooperation and intensifying efforts against drug trafficking, a U.S. official confirmed to The Daily Wire. 
The official told The Daily Wire that the meeting focused on &#8220;trust building measures and laying the groundwork for continued communication and room for collaboration between the two governments.&#8221; Rodriguez, who spoke with President Donald Trump during a phone call on Wednesday, became the interim leader of Venezuela after American forces captured dictator Nicolás Maduro.
“At President Trump’s direction, Director Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to meet with interim President Delcy Rodriguez to deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,&#8221; a U.S. official told The Daily Wire. &#8220;During the meeting in Caracas, Director Ratcliffe discussed potential opportunities for economic collaboration and that Venezuela can no longer be a safe haven for America’s adversaries, especially narcotraffickers.”
The official added that the trip was part of the continuation of Trump&#8217;s &#8220;aggressive foreign policy.&#8221; Ratcliffe and &#8220;a small team&#8221; met with Rodriguez and other Venezuelan officials for about two hours, according to the official. Ratcliffe reiterated the need for Venezuela to crack down on drug trafficking, including the violent Tren de Aragua. The official added that the trip showed Ratcliffe is willing to take risks.
The New York Times was the first outlet to report on the trip.
Before Maduro&#8217;s capture, the CIA carried out a reported strike on a Venezuelan port that U.S. officials said was used to load drugs onto boats bound for North America.
Earlier this month, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-leverages-oil-deal-to-make-venezuela-buy-american">announced</a> a controversial oil deal with Venezuela in which the country would provide the United States with between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned crude oil. With the money made from oil sales, Trump said that Venezuela would purchase American agricultural, medical, and electrical equipment. 
Ratcliffe’s meeting with Rodriguez came after Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ends-up-with-nobel-after-all-as-venezuelas-machado-gifts-prize-at-white-house">met</a> with Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado. 
“María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,&#8221; said Trump. &#8220;Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you, María!”
Top Trump officials have reiterated the administration’s commitment to long-term democratic elections in Venezuela; however, the president has not set a timeline for when elections might take place.
​​“We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-predicts-quick-but-expensive-venezuela-oil-rebuild-we-have-to-nurse-the-country-back?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=23&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Predicts+Quick%2C+But+Expensive+Venezuela+Oil+Rebuild%3A+‘We+Have+To+Nurse+The+Country+Back’">said</a> in an interview last week. “No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have to nurse the country back to health.”

US Seizes Russia-Flagged Tanker After Chase Across Atlantic

CIA Director Meets With Venezuela’s Interim Leader As U.S. Shifts Policy

Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela

A man who says he was acting as security for now-captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro says the force demonstrated by American troops was unlike anything he had ever seen, and that the Venezuelan forces were no competition.
Speaking in Spanish, the man says the Americans came in undetected by Maduro security and killed hundreds of men, despite the fact that they were badly outnumbered.
&#8220;Those 20 men killed hundreds of their men, and none of those [American] soldiers were injured,&#8221; a man translating the Venezuelan insider said.
&#8220;It was a massacre,&#8221; the insider detailed. &#8220;We were hundreds, but we had no chance. They were shooting with such precision and speed &#8230; it seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn&#8217;t do anything.&#8221;
The man said the Americans were using technology that cemented the mismatch, including the use of what he described as &#8220;a very intense sound wave.&#8221;
&#8220;Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
An insider from Venezuela’s security forces says US troops were like nothing they’d ever seen — overwhelming firepower, advanced tech, total dominance. After Trump’s Fox News warning on taking on the cartels, Latin America is watching how powerful US forces truly are. 🇺🇸🇻🇪”
⸻… <a href="https://t.co/GKqlkDDcRw">pic.twitter.com/GKqlkDDcRw</a>
— Anttsinc (@anttsinc) <a href="https://twitter.com/anttsinc/status/2009643118748946647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
The account from the perspective of Venezuelans has been highlighted by many, including White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, as a warning to anyone daring to engage the United States military. The details of the 88 minute raid on Venezuela have been outlined by American military officials, who say it was one of the most complex missions ever pulled off by the country.
&#8220;Those twenty men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I&#8217;ve never seen anything like it. We couldn&#8217;t even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was.&#8221;
WATCH: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/how-to-take-out-a-dictator-in-88-minutes?contentProgram=How%20to%20Take%20Out%20a%20Dictator%20in%2088%20Minutes&amp;contentType=Video&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">How to Take Out a Dictator in 88 Minutes</a>
The insider said the rest of the world should think twice before messing with the United States.
&#8220;I&#8217;m sending a warning to anyone who thinks they can fight the United States,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They have no idea what they&#8217;re capable of. After what I saw, I never want to be on the other side of that again. They&#8217;re not to be messed with.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gWNuS0tRVbY?si=g5fgPtdQmgGZzOXO" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The man said Mexico is already reevaluating its actions with the United States. &#8220;No one wants to go through what we went through,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Now everyone thinks twice. What happened here is going to change a lot of things, not just in Venezuela but throughout the region.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨This account from a Venezuelan security guard loyal to Nicolás Maduro is absolutely chilling—and it explains a lot about why the tone across Latin America suddenly changed.
Security Guard: On the day of the operation, we didn&#8217;t hear anything coming. We were on guard, but… <a href="https://t.co/392mQuakYV">pic.twitter.com/392mQuakYV</a>
— Mike Netter (@nettermike) <a href="https://twitter.com/nettermike/status/2009843044028428714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;

Screenshot 2026-01-10 at 1.53.20 PM

‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It’: Maduro’s Security Guard Lays Out What It’s Like Facing U.S. Military

'We Couldn't Even Stand': Maduro Security Details Unbelievable American Force During Venezuela Op

Trump Administration

The Biden administration justified bringing the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, over to the United States because he had worked with U.S. government entities, including the CIA, in Afghanistan, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Lakanwal, 29, who entered the U.S. as part of the Biden administration&#8217;s Operation Allies Welcome, allegedly shot the National Guard members only blocks from the White House, leaving them in critical condition.
“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” Ratcliffe told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/who-dc-national-guardsmen-shooting-suspect-what-know-about-afghan-national-rahmanullah-lakanwal">Fox News Digital</a>.
On September 3, 2021, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas <a href="applewebdata://081DAEB6-AD7B-4068-B92F-3A46194A02BF/v">introduced</a> Operation Allies Welcome, saying it was “the ongoing effort to bring Americans home, and to bring vulnerable Afghans to the United States and support their resettlement.  The President of the United States has the authority to designate a federal agency to lead a federal response.  Last Friday, he designated the Department of Homeland Security as the lead federal agency to coordinate Operation Allies Welcome to help ensure unity of effort, clear roles and responsibilities, synchronized priorities, and effective coordination across the federal government.”
Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.
“The federal government has been focused on the screening and vetting of individuals evacuated from Afghanistan,” he continued. “The Department of Homeland Security remains ever vigilant against attempts by foreign adversaries to exploit vulnerable populations as a means of gaining access to the U.S. for nefarious purposes.  Consequently, as part of a collaborative, interagency effort that includes DHS, the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, and other agencies, the Federal Government has established a robust screening and vetting architecture with the dual goals of protecting the homeland and providing protections for vulnerable Afghans.”
“We have a moral imperative to protect them, to support those who have supported this Nation,” he stated. “We have an obligation to do so in a way that protects our national security and preserves public safety.”

John Ratcliffe faces Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing

National Guardsmen Shooting Suspect Worked With The CIA, Agency Head Says

Afghanistan

Crime

Joe Biden

National Guard

Shooting

The Trump administration quietly greenlit a covert CIA operation in Venezuela against socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/politics/trump-covert-cia-action-venezuela.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> Wednesday.
The CIA will now be authorized to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela, according to the news outlet. It is not clear, however, if there are any looming plans against Maduro or his regime.
President Donald Trump <a href="https://x.com/OrlvndoA/status/1978557056878514557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> the plan during a press conference Wednesday, stating that he authorized enhanced action over Venezuela’s role in criminal migrants crossing the southern border and the trafficking of lethal drugs killing Americans.
“They’ve allowed thousands and thousands of prisoners, people from mental institutions, insane asylums emptied out into the United States, we’re bring[ing] them back. But that’s a really bad thing,” Trump said, adding, “Many, many countries have done it, but not like Venezuela, they were down and dirty.”
Trump also said that the United States will not only interdict drugs at sea, but also “by land.”
“We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come through the sea, so you get to see that, but we&#8217;re gonna stop them by land also.”
“I think Venezuela’s feeling heat, but I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat too. We’re not going to let this country, our country, be ruined because other people want to drop their worst. They have given us their worst, they&#8217;ve loaded up our country with prisoners, with mentally ill people that are seriously ill, criminally ill, and we&#8217;re not gonna take it,” Trump said.
The Trump administration is already beefing up the presence of troops in the region, according to the Times.
Most of the 10,000 U.S. troops stationed in the Caribbean are currently in Puerto Rico, while some Marines are on amphibious assault ships and a submarine in the region.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-takes-out-another-boat-in-caribbean-killing-four-suspected-narco-terrorists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump</a> administration has taken out several drug cartel vessels in recent months, killing 27 suspected narco-terrorists in five kinetic strikes.
Maduro has called the strikes “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country,” while accusing the Trump administration of “seeking a regime change” in Venezuela.
Wes Tabor, who was in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Caracas in 2012, recently told The Daily Wire that the Trump administration is “squeezing” the drug cartels.
“The permissive environment they long enjoyed is evaporating,” he said.
The United States has also offered a $50,000 <a href="https://www.state.gov/nicolas-maduro-moros" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reward</a> for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction on drug trafficking charges, citing his alleged ties to transnational gangs and cartels.
Earlier this month, President Trump called for an end to diplomatic talks with the Maduro regime over the dictator’s refusal to step down from power, according to the Times.
<div>
<div></div>
</div>

VENEZUELA-MADURO-SECOND-TERM-INAUGURATION

Trump Administration Authorizes Covert CIA Action In Venezuela

It has been 24 years since the deadly attacks on the U.S. that unleashed a decade-long war against Al-Qaeda and the hunt for its leader. Those who fought that war and participated in that hunt should be remembered and honored for it. 
I had the privilege to play a small role in the endgame of that search as we delivered justice to the killer of so many innocents. It is also good to commemorate the Americans who fell in battles with Al Qaeda before we acknowledged that we were, in fact, at war with that terrorist organization. Those pre-9/11 clashes included the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and the 1998 bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 
It was the Al Qaeda assault on the USS Cole in 2000, however, that is seen as a precursor to September 11, 2001.
In 1779, when a British officer demanded the surrender of the USS Bonhomme Richard, John Paul Jones — founder of the American Navy — famously retorted, “I have not yet begun to fight.” That retort has been the credo of American sailors ever since. And it epitomized the reaction of every crew member aboard the USS Cole to the attack on their ship.
Now, 25 years after the surprise attack, Big Media and DailyWire+ bring you &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTvFDubU86g">USS Cole: Al Qaeda&#8217;s Strike Before 9/11.</a>&#8221; The three-part documentary captures the crew&#8217;s courage, professionalism, and sacrifice during and after the assault on their ship.
<div id="attachment_981571" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/uss-cole-al-qaeda-s-strike-before-9-11-official-trailer"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-981571" class="size-large wp-image-981571" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/USS-Cole-16x9-keyart-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/USS-Cole-16x9-keyart-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/USS-Cole-16x9-keyart-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/USS-Cole-16x9-keyart-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/USS-Cole-16x9-keyart-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/USS-Cole-16x9-keyart.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>DailyWire+</div>
The documentary also provides insights into the efforts of the skipper of the USS Cole, Commander Kirk S. Lippold, and other military professionals, who navigate the limitations placed on their abilities to respond to terror threats in the pre-9/11 era, which are at once fascinating and deeply unsettling. Finally, the show documents the comprehensive investigation and relentless pursuit of the perpetrators in the wake of the attack.
The Al Qaeda attack on the Cole occurred on October 12, 2000. The U.S. Navy destroyer was making a routine refueling stop at the Port of Aden, Yemen, when a small boat carrying concealed explosives approached the port side of the ship. The two men on board made friendly gestures to sailors on the Cole, and then detonated their lethal cargo. The resulting blast tore a 40-foot-wide hole in the hull near the galley, at a time when many crew members were lining up for lunch. The explosion killed 17 personnel on the ship and injured 40 others. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, which had been coordinated by operatives who had trained in Afghanistan.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="USS COLE: Al Qaeda’s Strike Before 9/11 | Official Trailer" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eTvFDubU86g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As shown in the Big Media production, the crew of the Cole responded to the attack with extraordinary bravery and professionalism, working to triage injured shipmates and to deal with the extensive damage to the vessel. Within minutes of the explosion, medical personnel were rescuing, treating, and evacuating the wounded, many of whom were trapped under collapsed bulkheads. Sailors, a number of whom were badly injured themselves, fought flooding and fires for more than 96 hours, working without adequate sleep or food, often in total darkness and with the threat of further explosions. They did this despite the loss of key leaders, demonstrating great technical skill and courage in extremely hazardous conditions. With the assistance of nearby British Royal Navy ships and medical aid from the French military, the crew members saved the lives of injured shipmates and kept their ship from sinking. Later transported back to the U.S. for repair, the Cole remains in service with the Navy today.
&#8220;USS Cole: Al Qaeda&#8217;s Strike Before 9/11&#8221; also recounts the FBI investigation into the attack on the Cole. The Bureau dispatched more than 100 agents, lab technicians, and counterterrorism personnel to Yemen. Working with local authorities, FBI officers conducted witness interviews and collected evidence that resulted in a determination that Al Qaeda was, indeed, responsible for the Cole attack. In fact, it was tied to an abortive attempt to bomb another Navy ship, the USS The Sullivans, in January 2000. By the end of 2000, two men suspected of masterminding the bombing were arrested. Both subsequently escaped from Yemeni jails but were later killed in separate American airstrikes.
Another planner of the attack, captured in 2002, was shipped to Guantanamo Bay, where he was charged with responsibility for the Cole bombing and other terror-related offenses. Additional investigations and prosecutions identified numerous unindicted Al Qaeda co-conspirators. U.S. authorities have continuously pursued the remaining suspects. 
The lessons learned from the ordeal of the USS Cole and the investigations resulted in significant changes to U.S. Navy force protection protocols and U.S. counterterrorism policy. The documentary raises a key question over whether one of the key factors that contributed to the successful terrorist bombing of the Cole — and to the 9/11 attack — was that we were paying attention to things that distracted us from the threat.
Before the first plane struck the World Trade Center, we, as a nation, had not yet begun to fight. But the men and women of the USS Cole already had. And it is right that we should honor and remember them for it. In its portrayal of their courage, heroism, and sacrifice, the Big Media telling of their story does just that.
* * *
Mark Kelton is the former CIA Chief of Counterintelligence.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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USS-Cole-16×9 keyart

Before 9/11, There Was The USS Cole: New Documentary Recounts A Defining Attack

9/11

Al Qaeda

Bill Clinton

Documentaries

Islamic Jihad

Middle East

U.S. Navy

Yemen

Newly declassified intelligence documents released Thursday revealed Hillary Clinton personally approved a campaign plan to &#8220;smear&#8221; then-candidate Donald Trump with false Russian collusion claims to distract from her email scandal during the 2016 presidential race.
Special counsel John Durham uncovered the information during his multi-year investigation into intelligence activities during the 2016 election.
The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/895553887/Declassified-Durham-Annex-Released-by-Chairman-Grassley#download&amp;from_embed">intelligence</a>, released Monday by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), came from two memos obtained by the Obama administration containing &#8220;confidential conversations&#8221; between members of the DNC and George Soros&#8217;s Open Society Foundations before the 2016 election.
According to the declassified files, Clinton personally approved a plan proposed by her foreign policy advisor, Julianne Smith, to &#8220;smear Donald Trump by magnifying the scandal tied to the intrusion by the Russian special services in the pre-election process to benefit the Republican candidate.&#8221; Smith was later appointed to serve as Ambassador to NATO under President Joe Biden.
One stunning email written by Open Society Foundations Senior Vice President Leonard Bernardo, dated July 27, 2016, stated: &#8220;HRC [Hillary Clinton] approved Julia&#8217;s [sic] idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level.&#8221;
&#8220;The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue,&#8221; Bernado continued, adding, &#8220;In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU [Russia&#8217;s foreign intelligence arm] will hopefully carry on to give more facts.&#8221;
Durham’s team spoke with analysts and officers who assessed these emails were likely authentic. The special counsel&#8217;s team believe the emails, apparently from Benardo, were a &#8220;composite&#8221; of emails hacked by Russian intelligence from U.S. think tanks.
The Clinton campaign&#8217;s plan included &#8220;raising the theme of &#8216;Putin&#8217;s support for Trump'&#8221; and pushing public opinion to &#8220;equate&#8221; the Russian leader&#8217;s influence campaign with actual election infrastructure hacking. It also involved distributing &#8220;the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated … technical structures … in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications,&#8221; according to another email from Bernardo.
The email predicted that the FBI would &#8220;put more oil into the fire&#8221; of the Russia collusion narrative, with Obama even <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/31/us-news/hillary-clinton-approved-plan-hatched-by-campaign-aides-to-smear-trump-with-russia-collusion-declassified-docs/">considering</a> shutting down the bureau&#8217;s investigation into Clinton&#8217;s emails, according to the New York Post.
&#8220;Smith was, at minimum, playing a role in the Clinton campaign&#8217;s efforts to tie Trump to Russia,&#8221; Durham concluded.
Senator Chuck Grassley <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/newly-declassified-appendix-to-durham-report-sheds-additional-light-on-clinton-campaign-plan-to-falsely-tie-trump-to-russia-and-fbis-failure-to-investigate">said</a> in a statement: &#8220;Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton&#8217;s political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele Dossier and other means.&#8221;
&#8220;The American people deserve the full, unfiltered truth about the Russia collusion hoax and the political abuse of our justice system it exposed,&#8221; FBI Director Kash Patel stated, characterizing it as &#8220;one of the most shameful frauds ever perpetrated on the American public.&#8221;
The Russia collusion narrative dominated headlines for years during the first Trump administration. It led to multiple investigations, including Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s probe, which ultimately found no evidence of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Inauguration Of Donald J. Trump As The 47th President

Hillary Clinton Greenlit Russia Hoax To Hide Email Scandal, Declassified Docs Reveal

2016 Election

Barack Obama

Christopher Steele

Elections

Hillary Clinton

Russia Collusion Hoax

Legacy media outlets that pushed the Russia collusion hoax are downplaying bombshell documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, which reveal that the Obama administration suppressed intelligence proving that Russian meddling did not impact the 2016 election. 
The <a href="https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/DIG/DIG-Russia-Hoax-Memo-and-Timeline_revisited.pdf">documents</a> show that President Barack Obama ordered a new intelligence community assessment into alleged Russian meddling just one day after the suppression of an intel draft report showed Russia had no impact on election results. In response to the documents, media outlets have accused Gabbard of &#8220;rewriting&#8221; history around the Obama administration&#8217;s role in perpetuating the Russia narrative.  
On Tuesday, CNN published an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/22/politics/how-tulsi-gabbard-is-trying-to-rewrite-history-of-the-russia-investigation?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&amp;recs_exp=up-next-article-end&amp;tenant_id=related.en">article</a> suggesting that Gabbard was “misleading” the public about the Russia hoax, saying that her “allegations about the Russia investigation don’t add up.” NBC published an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trumps-intelligence-chiefs-try-rewrite-history-2016-election-rcna220103">article</a> claiming that Gabbard was attempting to “rewrite the history of the 2016 election.” 
The articles claim that Gabbard said there were no Russian efforts to interfere in the election at all. But Gabbard&#8217;s memo on the declassified documents actually notes that there “is still supporting evidence indicating the Russian government directed hacking” of the Democratic National Committee. 
What the media outlets dismiss is that the newly-released documents show a consensus in December 2019 from intelligence officials that Russia did not impact the outcome of the election, and that Russia did not have the ability to actually impact the election results. 
For example, talking points from the office of then-National Intelligence Director James Clapper on December 7 found that “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome” and that “We have no evidence of cyber manipulation of election infrastructure intended to alter results.”
A Presidential Daily Briefing draft for December 8, 2016, contains the same points. 
“We assess Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure,” intelligence officials stated in the unpublished draft.
An intelligence official killed the publication of the draft that day due to “high administration interest,” and the FBI yanked co-authorship to draft a dissent. 
Just one day later, on December 9, Obama asked the intelligence community to come up with a new assessment of Russian meddling. That same day, The Washington Post published an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html">article</a> citing anonymous intelligence officials who said that the CIA concluded that Russia “intervened” to help Trump win the presidency, &#8220;rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.” 
As Gabbard&#8217;s memo notes, “there is no official [intelligence community] assessment that contains that conclusion.”
CNN’s Tuesday article also cited unnamed “congressional sources” who disputed Gabbard’s claim that the discredited Steele Dossier — paid for by the Clinton campaign — informed the January 2017 intelligence assessment commissioned by Obama that claimed a larger role for Russia in the 2016 election. 
However, as documents released by Gabbard show, an intelligence community whistleblower was informed that the Steele Dossier “was a factor” in the Obama 2017 Russia intelligence assessment. Then-CIA Director John Ratcliffe also found that the dossier was included in the assessment, writing in a recent report that this “ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.”
Both CNN and NBC also said that the intelligence community never claimed Russia hacked the 2016 election. But nearly two-thirds of Democrats polled in 2018 <a href="https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/20383-russias-impact-election-seen-through-partisan-eyes">believed</a> that Russian hacking changed voting totals in the election. 
That came after headlines like “Obama orders review of Russian election-related hacking” from CNN and “U.S. Officials: Putin Personally Involved in U.S. Election Hack” from NBC. 
Gabbard has reportedly sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department over the Obama administration&#8217;s intelligence assessment in January 2017.
“There’s no question in my mind that this intelligence community assessment that President Obama ordered be published which contained a manufactured intelligence document — it’s worse than even politicization of intelligence,” Gabbard <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375881194112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News last week. “It was manufactured intelligence that sought to achieve President Obama and his team’s objective, which was undermining President Trump’s presidency and subverting the will of the American people.”

President Trump Holds Cabinet Meeting

Same News Orgs That Pushed Russia Hoax Now Claim Gabbard’s Intel Bombshells Are Misleading

Director of National Intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents Friday revealing that the Obama administration changed intelligence assessments after the 2016 election to create a narrative of Russian interference, despite earlier intelligence community findings that Russia &#8220;did not impact&#8221; the election through cyber activities.
The intelligence community concluded before the election that Russia was &#8220;probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means,&#8221; according to the declassified records <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-admin-manufactured-intelligence-create-2016-russian-election-interference-narrative-documents-show">obtained</a> by Fox News. However, following Trump’s unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton, their tone appeared to have changed.
“On Dec 8, 2016, IC officials prepared an assessment for the President&#8217;s Daily Brief, finding that Russia ‘did not impact recent U.S. election results’ by conducting cyber attacks on infrastructure,” Gabbard wrote in a thread on X. “Before it could reach the President, it was abruptly pulled ‘based on new guidance.’ This key intelligence assessment was never published.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🧵 Americans will finally learn the truth about how in 2016, intelligence was politicized and weaponized by the most powerful people in the Obama Administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>, subverting the… <a href="https://t.co/UQKKZ5c4Op">pic.twitter.com/UQKKZ5c4Op</a>
&mdash; DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1946271402971312514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The presidential brief prepared for President Obama on December 8, 2016, stated: &#8220;We assess that Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure,” noting that any Russian activities &#8220;probably were intended to cause psychological effects, such as undermining the credibility of the election process and candidates.&#8221;
The brief concluded that it was &#8220;highly unlikely&#8221; Russian interference &#8220;would have resulted in altering any state’s official vote result.&#8221;
&#8220;Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes,&#8221; it stated.
The FBI raised immediate objections to the brief and requested that its publication be delayed until the bureau could address its concerns. Under then-Director James Comey, the FBI drafted a formal &#8220;dissent&#8221; to the original briefing.
Subsequently, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence postponed internal publication of the Presidential Daily Brief, citing &#8220;new guidance&#8221; as the reason for the delay.
Just one day later, on December 9, a meeting was called in the White House Situation Room to discuss Russian election interference with top officials, including then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-National Security Advisor Susan Rice, then-Secretary of State John Kerry, and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Following this meeting, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper threw out the old analysis and tasked intelligence leaders with crafting a new assessment &#8220;per the president&#8217;s request,&#8221; detailing &#8220;tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.&#8221;
Gabbard revealed: “According to whistleblower emails shared with us today, we know Clapper and Brennan used the baseless discredited Steele Dossier as a source to push this false narrative in the intelligence assessment.”
Intelligence sources told Fox News the new report “was based on information that was known by those involved to be manufactured i.e. the Steele Dossier or deemed as not credible,&#8221; and the CIA had previously dismissed it as filled with &#8220;internet rumor[s].&#8221;
By January 6, 2017, a new Intelligence Community Assessment was released that &#8220;directly contradicted the IC assessments that were made throughout the previous six months,&#8221; the ODNI office told Fox News.
Intelligence officials told Fox News they consider the assessment to have been blatantly &#8220;politicized&#8221; after it &#8220;suppressed intelligence from before and after the election showing Russia lacked intent and capability to hack the 2016 election.&#8221;
&#8220;The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government,&#8221; Gabbard told Fox News. &#8220;Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.&#8221;
&#8220;No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again,&#8221; Gabbard said. &#8220;The American people’s faith and trust in our democratic republic and therefore the future of our nation depends on it.&#8221;
Gabbard concluded: &#8220;As such, I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-SECURITY-INTELLIGENCE-FBI-OBAMA-COMEY

Obama Admin Suppressed Intel Showing Russia Didn’t Impact 2016 Election, Tulsi Reveals

James Comey

John Brennan

National Intelligence

Russia

Steele Dossier

U.S.

The FBI is reportedly probing former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey over their actions related to the Trump-Russia investigation of the 2016 election.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe made referrals for investigation and potential prosecution of the former top intelligence officials to FBI Director Kash Patel. The bureau has opened criminal investigations into both Brennan and Comey, though the scope of those investigations is unclear, Department of Justice officials told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-brennan-james-comey-under-criminal-investigation-doj-sources.amp">Fox News</a>.
Last week, Ratcliffe <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/02/us-news/obamas-trump-russia-collusion-report-was-corrupt-from-start-cia-review/">declassified</a> a “tradecraft review” of the 2016 investigation into Russian election meddling and President Donald Trump. The review determined that the investigation may have been sullied by corruption from the start.
Former President Barack Obama ordered Brennan, Comey, and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to look into Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, and what links, if any, those attempts may have had with the Trump campaign. Obama’s intelligence trio cut corners and froze out most of the rest of the United States intelligence community from the assessment in the atypical investigation, according to the memo.
The after-action report identified “multiple procedural anomalies” such as “a highly compressed production timeline, stringent compartmentation, and excessive involvement of agency heads.” The procedural oddities undermined the integrity and credibility of the CIA, the report said.
Brennan took the lead on the assessment. He overrode the advice of senior officials at the CIA who recommended not including the unsubstantiated Steele Dossier in the final report
“Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness,” Ratcliffe’s review says. “When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders — one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background — he appeared more swayed by the Dossier&#8217;s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.”
After the review was completed, its findings motivated Ratcliffe to refer Brennan to the FBI for investigation of potential wrongdoing, according to Fox News.
Brennan “violated the public’s trust and should be held accountable for it,” one official told Fox News without going into detail on what in particular Brennan is being investigated for.

James Comey, John Brennan

Trump DOJ Puts Brennan And Comey Under Investigation For Russiagate: Report

Brennan, Comey Under Criminal Investigation Over 2016 Trump-Russia Probe: Report

WASHINGTON — Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe clarified Wednesday that the CIA has new intelligence indicating &#8220;several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed&#8221; by the recent U.S. strikes.
The CIA published a statement from Ratcliffe late Wednesday afternoon amid legacy media reporting claiming that the United States failed to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, as President Donald Trump has said, and only set it back by months. The New York Times specifically <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/trump-nato-iran.html">argued</a> that the report upended the victory Trump had hoped to celebrate at the NATO summit.
Trump’s team has aggressively pushed back on the stories. The president himself said Iran’s nuclear sites were obliterated, Israel has also stated the sites were obliterated, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/irans-foreign-ministry-says-nuclear-facilities-badly-damaged-by-us-strikes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure.”
Ratcliffe&#8217;s statement noted not only that several nuclear facilities were destroyed but also that Iran&#8217;s Nuclear Program has been &#8220;severely damaged.&#8221;
“CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes,&#8221; Ratcliffe said in a statement. &#8220;This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_939457" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cia-reveals-intelligence-showing-u-s-destroyed-key-iranian-nuclear-facilities/nato-summit-in-the-hague-final-day-4" rel="attachment wp-att-939457"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-939457" class="wp-image-939457 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2221351945-1-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2221351945-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2221351945-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2221351945-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2221351945-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>USA Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, USA President Donald Trump and USA Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the press conference at the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;CIA continues to collect additional reliably sourced information to keep appropriate decision-makers and oversight bodies fully informed,&#8221; he added. &#8220;When possible, we will also provide updates and information to the American public, given the national importance of this matter and in every attempt to provide transparency.”
Earlier on Wednesday, DNI Tulsi Gabbard also put out a statement arguing that &#8220;new intelligence&#8221; shows that &#8220;Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities have been destroyed.&#8221;
&#8220;If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordo, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do,&#8221; Gabbard said. 
&#8220;The propaganda media has deployed their usual tactic,&#8221; she added: &#8220;selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with &#8216;low confidence&#8217;) to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership and the brave servicemen and women who flawlessly executed a truly historic mission to keep the American people safe and secure.&#8221;

Intelligence Directors Testify At Senate Hearing On Worldwide Threats

CIA Reveals Intelligence Showing U.S. ‘Destroyed’ Key Iranian Nuclear Facilities

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