Something happened between the Oct. 7 and Jan. 6 intelligence community statements. One obvious explanation is that the intelligence community learned more about Russian interference, enough to draw a conclusion about Putin’s motive. But House Intel Republicans appear to believe that the intelligence community used some sort of improper process to reach that conclusion.

In other words, the committee GOP seems to be suggesting that the intelligence community might have cooked the books, sometime between Oct. 7 and Jan. 6.

But in what way? How could that have happened? Some point to an article in the Washington Post, dated Dec. 10, 2016, headlined, “FBI and CIA give differing accounts to lawmakers on Russia’s motive in 2016 hacks.” The paper reported that in a meeting a few days before Dec. 10, committee members asked FBI officials if they concurred with the CIA’s finding that Putin was specifically trying to help Trump and hurt Clinton.