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Bera calls for rejection of false 2020 election claims
The California Democrat urged intelligence leaders to safeguard the independence of their agencies ahead of President Donald Trump's planned address on the 2020 election.
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Malvika Choudhary - Sun, 19, Jul 2026
- 16:44 EDT
- 184
Congressman Ami Bera / X/@RepBera
Rep. Ami Bera called on top U.S. intelligence officials to reject efforts to use intelligence to advance false claims about the 2020 presidential election, joining House Intelligence Committee Democrats in a letter sent July 16.
Bera joined House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Ranking Member Jim Himes and other Democratic members in writing to Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, and National Security Agency Director Joshua Rudd. The lawmakers urged the officials to protect the integrity and independence of the Intelligence Community and reject any attempt to use intelligence to support what they described as false claims about the 2020 election.
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The letter was sent ahead of President Donald Trump's July 16 speech, in which he was expected to disclose intelligence related to alleged foreign interference in the 2020 election. Democrats said they were concerned that intelligence could be selectively declassified or presented in a manner that misleads the public and undermines confidence in past elections.
In the letter, the lawmakers said the Intelligence Community's findings on the 2020 election have long been established. They cited the declassified 2021 Intelligence Community Assessment, completed during Trump's first term and coordinated by then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, which concluded that "We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to interfere in the 2020 US elections by altering any technical aspect of the voting process."
The members said no intelligence contradicting that assessment had been provided to the House Intelligence Committee despite repeated requests. They also noted that the classified version of the assessment, including material available to the congressional "Gang of Eight," supports the same conclusion.
While acknowledging that the president has the authority to declassify intelligence, the lawmakers said any release should first be coordinated across relevant Intelligence Community agencies, reviewed under established analytic standards, and shared with the congressional intelligence committees before being made public.
The letter also criticized what Democrats described as the Intelligence Community's failure to meet certain statutory responsibilities related to election security, arguing that officials should remain focused on protecting future elections rather than revisiting settled conclusions about the 2020 vote.
The lawmakers reminded intelligence leaders of their legal obligation to keep Congress fully informed of new intelligence related to election influence or interference, as well as any significant declassification decisions.
Warning against the misuse of intelligence for political purposes, they wrote, "A reckless effort to weaponize intelligence to support false claims about election security will have a lasting and destructive impact on the relationship between the Intelligence Community and its oversight committees, as well as on the trust of the American people."
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