Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump’s Latest ‘Russia Scandal’ Is Less Than It Appears

The president is not trying to suppress or distort intelligence about meddling in the U.S. election.

February 21, 2020 at 8:00 PM UTC

Updated on

February 21, 2020 at 8:18 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Trump’s latest director of national intelligence. — Trump’s latest director of national intelligence.
Photographer: THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP

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From the perspective of the #Resistance, the scoops were both terrifying and vindicating: An intelligence official told lawmakers last week that the Russians were meddling again in U.S. elections and seeking to re-elect President Donald Trump. This infuriated the president, who abruptly fired the current director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, and replaced him with a loyalist, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell.

Unfortunately, there is less to this story than Trump’s opponents would like. There is no formal intelligence assessment, and the new DNI is only temporary. This is not a case of the president trying to suppress or distort intelligence.