AI
On December 9, 2016, the Washington Post and New York Times reported that the CIA had concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election specifically to help Donald Trump win. While a formal, unified Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) was not published until January 2017, internal consensus among agency heads began to solidify during that week in December.
Timeline of Assessments
*Prior to December 2016: On October 7, 2016, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a joint statement officially accusing Moscow of directing hacks to "interfere with the U.S. election process," but it did not specify a preference for a candidate at that time.
*December 9, 2016: Reports emerged of a "secret CIA assessment" presented to senators, stating it was "quite clear" that electing Trump was Russia's goal.
*December 16, 2016: CIA Director John Brennan sent an internal memo stating there was "strong consensus" between himself, FBI Director James Comey, and DNI James Clapper regarding the "scope, nature, and intent" of Russian interference.
*January 2017: The formal Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) was released, concluding with "high confidence" that Russia sought to help Trump’s election chances by discrediting Hillary Clinton.
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"Reports emerged of a "secret CIA assessment" presented to senators....."
The new narrative was so secret that the NYT and WaPo wrote stories for the public to consume on the same day. It wasn't a "reports emerged" scenario, it was a leak to push the Putin wanted Trump to win storyline and the soon to be completed Steele dossier.
And the "secret CIA assessment" appears to be that the Steele dossier was now to be put into the classified assessment.
CIA analysts were opposed to including elements of the dossier because inclusion could jeopardize the entire assessment, but say they were overruled.