POLITICIZED

DNI Ratcliffe Went Rogue to Say Iran Wanted to Hurt Trump With Threatening Emails: Report

The FBI director and Homeland Security’s director of cybersecurity and infrastructure were reportedly surprised by Ratcliffe’s off-script remark.

When the director of national intelligence said last week that Iran had sent threatening emails to Americans “to damage President Trump,” the remark was not part of his prepared script, Politico reports. John Ratcliffe said the attempted election interference was “designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump.” FBI Director Chris Wray and Homeland Security’s director of cybersecurity and infrastructure, Chris Krebs, had signed off on the original draft of the talking points, which did not mention a 2020 candidate preference. The two were reportedly surprised at Ratcliffe’s overt politicization of the effort to stop the campaign. Ratcliffe unilaterally decided to hold the rushed press conference earlier in the day, according to Politico.