Leaks show 'insiders seem eager' to reveal Gabbard's 'behind-the-scenes abuses'

New evidence has emerged that suggests president Donald Trump's intelligence agencies have been politicized – and insiders want the public to know.

The New York Times obtained emails showing that a top aide to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, directing analysts to revise an assessment to justify the president's apparently inaccurate claim that Venezuela's government controls a criminal gang, and MSNBC's Steve Benen said the episode is illustrative for several reasons.

"To justify his administration’s plans to remove immigrants to a Salvadoran megaprison, the president has spent months insisting that Venezuela’s government controls the Tren de Aragua gang," Benen wrote. "Among the problems with this assertion is the simple fact that U.S. intelligence has come to the opposite conclusion."

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

The National Intelligence Council concluded months ago that Nicolás Maduro’s regime has not been coordinating the gang's operations in the US., but that didn't sit well with the president, and the New York Times reported that Gabbard's acting chief of staff Joe Kent told a senior analyst to work up a new assessment of the relationship between Venezuela’s government and Tren de Aragua.

"In other words, the National Intelligence Council analyzed the classified intelligence and provided a reality-based assessment," Benen wrote. "Soon after, a Trump appointee, unsatisfied with the available facts, effectively asked the council to do it again."

The administration insists the request by Kent, a conspiracy theorist and failed GOP congressional candidate, was routine and not controversial, but the Times reported the "disclosure of his emails supports the accounts of critics who said he was applying political pressure" on analysts to avoid political embarrassment for Trump and Gabbard.

"There’s a growing body of evidence that Team Trump is politicizing intelligence in ways that could pose dramatic risks," Benen wrote, saying the president needed accurate information to make good decisions. "Let’s forget that after the leaders of the National Intelligence Council declined to tell the administration what it wanted to hear, Gabbard decided to fire the leaders of the council, which was ridiculous and sent a dangerous signal to other intelligence professionals."

Benen said the episode showed that that the White House should immediately withdraw Kent's nomination to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, which Democrats have already challenged by pointing out his links to the Proud Boys and Nazi sympathizers, and the columnist said leaks demonstrated dissatisfaction with Gabbard's leadership.

"Let’s not overlook that apparently some intelligence insiders seem eager to let the public know about these behind-the-scenes abuses," Benen wrote.