Gabbard claims Obama officials 'manufactured intelligence' of 2016 Russian election interference

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a report Friday alleging Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Gabbard asserted in a statement that former officials engaged in a “treasonous conspiracy” and said her office was turning over evidence to the Justice Department for possible criminal referrals.

“The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government,” Gabbard said. “Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.”

Friday’s memo cites officials such as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey. 

President Trump has for years claimed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether his campaign colluded with Moscow was a “hoax,” targeting officials like Brennan and Comey with frequent attacks.

Trump in March signed a memo ordering the declassification of “all files related to Crossfire Hurricane,” the name given to the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The very intelligence agencies that Gabbard now oversees have long concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election — an assessment that was backed by other outside entities.

That includes a three-year bipartisan Senate investigation that concluded in a more than 1,300 page report that Russia was aggressive in seeking to interfere with the election on Trump’s behalf, including by launching a massive social media campaign.

Gabbard’s memo, as well as another 114 pages of related documents, primarily rests on claims there was no indication of a Russian effort to directly manipulate the actual vote count.

However, that is not at odds with the conclusion of the intelligence community or the Senate report, which determined there was “no evidence that any votes were changed or that any voting machines were manipulated.” The Obama administration said it had seen no evidence that hackers tampered with the results.

Gabbard’s release was immediately panned by Intelligence Committee Democrats, who noted that it comes amid fractures within the Trump administration over how to handle scrutiny over the Jeffrey Epstein case.

“It’s a day that ends with ‘y’ and Donald Trump desperately wants to change the subject, so Director Gabbard is rehashing decade-old false claims about the Obama Administration. Few episodes in our nation’s history have been investigated as thoroughly as the Intelligence Community’s warning in 2016 that Russia was interfering in the election,” House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said in a statement.

“Every legitimate investigation, including the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, found no evidence of politicization and endorsed the findings of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment.”

Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also criticized Gabbard.

“It seems DNI Gabbard is unaware that the years-long Russia investigation carried out by the Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed that ‘the Russian government directed extensive activity against U.S. election infrastructure’ ahead of the 2016 election, and that it ‘used social media to conduct an information warfare campaign’ in order to benefit Donald Trump. This conclusion was supported on a unanimous basis by every single Democrat and Republican on the committee,” he said in a statement.

Also Friday, the Justice Department moved to release some evidence from the Epstein case, including some grand jury testimony, under pressure to release more information about a figure Trump used to socialize with. 

The move from Gabbard comes not only amid fallout from the Epstein saga but shortly after reports that she had fallen out of favor with Trump over intelligence related to Iran’s nuclear program.

Friday’s release underscores how probing the origins of the Russia investigation has remained a fixation for the president nearly a decade later. The memo also focuses on the Steele dossier, a collection of salacious allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia, some of which has been discredited. 

Gabbard received praise from GOP figures for the report.

“DISMANTLING THE DEEP STATE!” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote on social platform X.

“The Russia hoax was a political hit job manufactured by Obama officials and weaponized by intel agencies to take down President Trump. Accountability is long overdue!”

However, in Democratic circles, Gabbard has been accused — in this instance as well as others — of tailoring intelligence to suit the needs of the administration.

Warner noted that Gabbard previously called on Trump to pardon leaker Edward Snowden, who released thousands of National Security Agency documents showing the bulk collection of Americans’ communications data. 

“It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president’s election conspiracy theories,” Warner said.

“It is appalling to hear DNI Gabbard accuse her own IC workforce of committing a ‘treasonous conspiracy’ when she was unwilling to label Edward Snowden a traitor.”

Updated at 6:33 p.m. EDT