President Donald Trump's address to the nation exposing what the administration described as an intelligence community cover-up surrounding the 2020 election marked another step toward holding officials accountable for manipulating intelligence, according to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford.
"Once again, unelected bureaucrats in the Intelligence Community manipulated and concealed intelligence to mislead the President, Congress, and the American people," the Arkansas Republican said in a statement released to Newsmax after Trump's address.
"They did this to make the intelligence say what they wanted it to say, instead of the facts of what we know and what we don't know," he added, noting that the speech revealed "the elaborate cover-up by the Intelligence Community to shield the truth about our Nation's election integrity from the American people."
Trump's address followed his order Thursday declassifying intelligence records and directing multiple federal agencies to investigate what he described as a yearslong intelligence community cover-up surrounding the 2020 election.
Crawford said rooting out what he described as intelligence abuses has been his top priority since becoming chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
He pointed to the July 2025 release, in coordination with then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, of the committee's 2017 majority staff report examining the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
According to Crawford, the report showed "how individuals in the intelligence community manipulated and fabricated intelligence in a conspiracy against a President of the United States."
He also cited the committee's three-year investigation into Anomalous Health Incidents, or AHIs, saying it resulted in Gabbard recalling Intelligence Community Assessments on the issue earlier this year after investigators found evidence of intelligence manipulation and concealment.
Crawford stressed that most intelligence professionals "are great patriots" dedicated to protecting the nation's security but said others had acted in ways that undermined public trust.
"I have seen far too many instances of intelligence bureaucrats who think they not only know better than the American people, but better than the Presidents the American people elect," he said. "This is unacceptable."
Crawford also pushed back against those urging the country to move beyond disputes surrounding the 2020 election.
"We cannot go forward with an eroded, weak foundation," Crawford said. "We must look ahead while also seeking to fully understand what went wrong and hold bad actors accountable."
Crawford said Trump "trusted the American people with the facts" during his address and argued transparency is necessary to restore confidence in the intelligence community.
"Now it's time to hold people accountable, or this will keep happening," he said. "It's not too late. I will continue working with President Trump and trusted members of his team to do just that."