Ex-CIA officials demand probe into 'weird' intel docs 'tailor made' for Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a press conference on the day of a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Former intelligence officials are demanding answers about an alleged CIA document used by President Donald Trump to promote his election denial claims. According to officials, this “weird” document appears to have been “tailor made” for Trump rather than adhering to normal agency procedure. According to MSNOW, these officials “think the public should know when and why it was written, and who requested it.”

The matter involves a CIA note on the People’s Republic of China entitled “Sensitive PRC Reporting from 2018 – 2020.” As MSNOW explained, “The date is redacted, and it is unclear where within the CIA it originated. Trump quoted directly from the three-page document in his speech when citing debunked claims that the intelligence community withheld information from him about China, and called on the Justice Department to ‘fire those involved in the cover-up’ and ‘file criminal charges if appropriate.’”

Former officials, however, have raised alarms that the document appears to be “raw intelligence all supporting a single view — alleging that China wanted Trump to lose the 2020 election and sought to influence the outcome — without including the full scope, context or any definitive conclusion from the agency’s information. The Trump administration, the officials said, should answer whether the document was drafted in response to a narrowly tailored request from someone within the administration, noting that to do so with the purpose of supporting Trump’s accusations about the security of America’s elections would be a clear politicization of the country’s intelligence community.”

According to a Democratic lawmaker with national security oversight, there are many questions about the document, a list of which will be sent to the CIA. For example, “the document does not show traditional accountability markers, such as authorship and footnotes, and the high degree of confidence expressed in the document is unusual.” Six former CIA and intelligence officials agreed that the CIA and White House should answer questions.

“The fact that the document presented only one viewpoint and appeared to be crafted in response to a narrow query should be investigated, the former officials said,” explained MSNOW. “The Steady State, a group of former national security and intelligence officials, is calling for an independent investigation by key congressional committees and the inspectors general for the intelligence community and CIA. Steven Cash, executive director of The Steady State and a former CIA and Department of Homeland Security official, is sending a letter Tuesday to top lawmakers on the intelligence committees and agency watchdog offices, detailing key ‘anomalies’ in the document.”

The Steady State concluded that the document “departs in both style and format” from CIA drafting norms and does not have caveats typical of CIA analysis. One former official called it “weird,” saying it “doesn’t read like a finished product.” According to former CIA analyst Julie Curlee, the document looks recently generated and “tailor made.” As she explains, “Released under CIA letterhead, but with its author and publication date redacted, it has all the hallmarks of a memo built to serve the president’s political needs and the intelligence community’s authority turned against the American public.”

“Was this done to placate Trump?” another former senior intelligence official wondered.

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