Chief US Intel Agency Declassifies Information That It Claimed 'Deep State Actors' Leaked To Attack Trump

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An intelligence memo on the prison gang Tren de Aragua’s supposed ties to the Venezuelan government was declassified and released to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF). Details from the memo were previously leaked.

Lauren Harper, the Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy for FPF, requested a copy of the memo after the Washington Post reported on the assessment. Unnamed sources “familiar" with the “intelligence product” spoke to the media organization. 

Following the report, on April 23, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that the “illegal leak to the Washington Post” would be referred to the United States Justice Department (DOJ), along with two previous leaks.

“These deep-state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine POTUS’ agenda,” Gabbard declared. “I look forward to working with [the Justice Department] and [FBI] to investigate, terminate, and prosecute these criminals.”

In a press release from FPF, Harper said, “The Trump administration claimed that the leak of this memo was so dangerous that it necessitated opening criminal investigations and creating new, stricter rules around leaks to the media. We wanted to see if that was true—or if the Justice Department was weakening journalists' protections to help hide a document that the public has an obvious right to see.”

The document [PDF], which was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), further confirms that most U.S. intelligence agencies do not believe that the Venezuelan government is “directing or enabling” Tren de Aragua “migration” to the U.S.

Agencies have “not observed the regime directing TDA, including to push migrants to the United States, which probably would require extensive [redacted] coordination, and funding between regime entities and TDA leaders that we would collect.” Sources alleging Venezuela government ties could be “motivated to fabricate information.” 

On April 25, as The Dissenter covered, Attorney General Pam Bondi rolled back procedural protections for the press during leak investigations and prosecutions. Federal prosecutors will be permitted to hold journalists in contempt if they do not comply with subpoenas, court orders, or search warrants. That means reporters who receive and publish leaks could be jailed or fined significantly. 

Harper contended the declassified memo shows that the “DOJ's new media rules are an excuse to target journalists.”

FPF shared the memo with various news media, and The New York Times was one of the first media organizations to cover the document.

The Times had previously reported on a separate document from February 26 that also indicated U.S. intelligence agencies did not believe Tren de Aragua is controlled by the Venezuelan government. 

When Trump designated Tren de Aragua as a “foreign terrorist organization” and invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act to remove alleged gang members, he proclaimed, “TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking.”

“TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States,” Trump additionally asserted. 

But the “shared assessment” on February 26 contradicted Trump. It indicated “that Venezuela’s government and the gang were adversaries, even though some corrupt Venezuelan officials had ties to some gang members. It also said the gang lacked centralized command-and-control and was too disorganized to carry out any instructions,” according to the Times.

The ODNI complained when the Post asked them to comment on the memo. “President Trump took necessary and historic action to safeguard our nation when he deported these violent Tren de Aragua terrorists. Now that America is safer without these terrorists in our cities, deep state actors have resorted to using their propaganda arm to attack the President’s successful policies.”

Remarkably, the same agency that claimed the leak of the intelligence memo was the work of “deep state actors”—and called for a criminal prosecution—turned around a little more than two weeks later and released a copy of the exact memo to press freedom organization. 

What is even more stunning is at a time when FOIA has become extremely dysfunctional at most agencies, FPF did not have to fight a lengthy battle in court for the document. The ODNI “almost immediately declassified the same information,” Harper told the Times. 

Harper further contended, “The declassification proves that the material should have been public from the start—not used as an excuse to suppress sharing information with the press.”