The House Intelligence Committee, with the backing of the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is claiming that Secretary Clinton was suffering from “extraordinarily alarming” health issues ahead of the 2016 election.

Republicans say that President Putin was aware of these alleged problems at the time, though he chose to sit on them in order to deploy the damaging information for a later date, when he could damage a possible Clinton presidency had she prevailed in the election. 

Ms. Gabbard and Republicans in Congress have for the last week been trying to debunk the “Russia hoax” and its origins in the intelligence community during the Obama administration. They say that the executive branch was responsible for orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy” before President Trump was even sworn into office in 2017. 

“They manufactured findings from shoddy sources. They suppressed evidence and credible intelligence that disproved their false claims,” Ms. Gabbard said at a White House press briefing on Wednesday. “In doing so, they conspired to subvert the will of the American people who elected Donald Trump in that election in November of 2016.”

The same day, the Republican-controlled U.S. House Intelligence Committee released a classified report dated September 2020 related to the original Intelligence Community Assessment that led to the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

The 2020 report was authored by the Republican staff on the Intelligence Committee, who were at the time in the minority. Ms. Gabbard authorized the report to be released on Tuesday. 

“As of September 2016, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) had Democratic National Committee (DNC) information that President Obama and party leaders found the state of Secretary Clinton’s health to be ‘extraordinarily alarming,’” the report, based on interviews with intelligence officers, states. “Her health information was being kept in ‘strictest secrecy’ and even close advisors were not being fully informed.”

The report claims that the Russian government had information confirming that Mrs. Clinton “was suffering from ‘intensified psycho-emotional problems’” during the 2016 race, which required “a daily regimen of ‘heavy tranquilizers.’”

The Russians, according to the report, also had “information that Clinton suffered from ‘Type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.’”

A representative for Mrs. Clinton and her husband did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Not only was Mrs. Clinton allegedly suffering from personal health issues, but the report claims that allies had doubts about her abilities, as well. The report does not disclose the sources for allies in western Europe who were allegedly doubting Mrs. Clinton’s capabilities. 

The Russians “also had information that the DNC leadership and Clinton’s foreign policy advisors had heard that U.S. allies ‘in London, Berlin, Paris, and Rome’ were not optimistic about a Clinton presidency,’” the report states. “They had ‘expressed notes of doubt regarding her ability to perform the functions of head-of-state.’”

Republicans say that the intelligence community never thoroughly investigated these claims, even though it would have contradicted the narrative about Moscow trying to influence the election for Mr. Trump. This, they argue, is evidence that Mr. Putin had little interest in who won the presidency beyond damaging the American electoral process by sowing discord and distrust. 

“It is difficult to justify the … judgment that Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win by discrediting Secretary Clinton, given that in the closing weeks of the campaign — when such devastating leaks could have been decisive — President Putin elected not to inject this material into the campaign,” the report argues.