Intelligence officials under former President Barack Obama omitted information indicating Russia had damaging material about Hillary Clinton’s mental and physical health during the 2016 campaign but chose not to release it, as they worked to find support for a narrative that Russia intervened to help elect President Donald Trump, according to newly declassified records.
The revelation comes from a long-classified House Intelligence Committee report made public by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday. The report, dated Sept. 18, 2020, says Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service accessed internal Democratic National Committee communications in 2016 that contained detailed allegations about Clinton’s physical and psychological health, including claims she was on a daily regimen of “heavy tranquilizers” and suffering from a mix of “intensified psycho-emotional problems.”
The communications also referenced multiple chronic illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and deep vein thrombosis, that Clinton, who turned 69 years old that year, was suffering from. Russian intelligence reportedly described her as “obsessed with a thirst for power” and emotionally erratic, according to page 17 of the House Intelligence Committee report.
This information was never disclosed by Obama-era intelligence officials when briefing the public or crafting the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which asserted with high confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the election with the specific intent to help Trump.
The House Intelligence Committee report concludes, “[I]t is difficult to justify” the Obama intelligence community’s “judgement that Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win by discrediting Secretary Clinton given that in the closing weeks of the campaign — when such devastating leaks could have been decisive — President Putin elected not to inject this material into the campaign.”
At the same time, the report notes, U.S. officials were aware that Russia intercepted a DNC email describing a campaign plan, approved by Clinton, to link Trump to Russian hackers as a way to “distract the public” from the fallout of the Clinton email server scandal. That detail was also omitted from the assessment’s findings.
The omission is striking given the focus that Obama administration officials placed on what they said were Russia’s efforts to provide material support to the Trump campaign, as well as the yearslong investigation that followed into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to secure that support.
The newly declassified report, which was finalized under the leadership of former Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes on the committee, suggests that rather than presenting a full intelligence picture of Russia’s 2016 activities, Obama-era officials selectively emphasized evidence that bolstered the collusion narrative while downplaying or ignoring intelligence that may have undermined it.
At the time, Clinton’s health was a live political matter, though the number and nature of ailments cited by the SVR have never been alleged or made public by Clinton or her representatives.
In September 2016, NBC News reported Clinton “nearly” collapsed while leaving a 9/11 memorial event and was later diagnosed with pneumonia. Her campaign initially withheld the diagnosis, fueling questions about a possible lack of health transparency at the time after video footage captured her appearing to have a medical episode and needing to be helped into a van by her staff. Clinton previously suffered a concussion in 2012, which led to the discovery of a blood clot in her brain and required hospitalization.
The Clinton campaign often dismissed questions about her health during the election as conspiracy theories. However, the fact that Russian operatives picked up internal chatter within the DNC referencing private concerns about her serious health conditions, and that this was known to U.S. intelligence officials, adds a new dimension to the Russia interference narrative, particularly because Putin chose not to use that information to damage Clinton when he had the chance.
Critics of the Trump-Russia narrative pushed by the Obama administration argue that if officials were truly concerned about determining what Russia was trying to accomplish, they would have included the context that, in addition to leaking some politically harmful material related to Clinton in 2016, Russia also withheld far more damaging details.
“If Russia was really all-in on supporting Trump and hurting Clinton, it would have leaked this information in October 2016 when her lead in the RCP average slipped to just +1.3,” Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and a staunch Trump ally, posted on X.
Instead, the intelligence community’s final report focused narrowly on interpreting Russia’s intent as pro-Trump, without acknowledging information that contradicted or complicated that conclusion.
Sarah Bedford contributed to this report.