WASHINGTON — CIA Director Mike Pompeo incorrectly asserted Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia’s interference campaign did not affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
“We conducted an election that had integrity,” Pompeo, a former Republican member of Congress from Kansas, said during a public event in response to a question from NBC News. “And yes, the intelligence community’s assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.”
In fact, U.S. intelligence agencies did not reach that conclusion, nor did they consider that question.
The CIA quickly issued a statement clarifying Pompeo’s remarks.
“The intelligence assessment with regard to Russian election meddling has not changed, and the director did not intend to suggest that it had,” agency spokesman Ryan Trapani said in a statement.
The public version of the U.S. intelligence assessment examining Russian election interference was released in January. It concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Hillary Clinton, and help Donald Trump.
It also specifically stated: “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The U.S. Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion.”
U.S. officials say the same is true of the classified version of the document.
Then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, when he briefed Congress in January on the intelligence assessment, said: “This report does not — repeat does not — assess the impact of Russian activities on the actual outcome of the 2016 election or draw any conclusions in that regard one way or the other.” Clapper also said there was no evidence that the Russians had actually altered vote totals on Election Day.
Former senior U.S. officials who have read the classified assessment have told NBC News that there is no way to know whether the Russian effort — including hacking, leaking, and a barrage of fake news on social media — influenced the outcome of the 2016 election.