Gabbard Confirms Obama Referred to DOJ, FBI for ‘Criminal’ Investigation of ‘Russiagate’

Former President Barack Obama was involved in the “manufacturing” of an intelligence assessment relating to reputed Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.  

“There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false,” Gabbard said Wednesday at a White House press briefing.  

“They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President [Donald] Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn’t,” she added.  

Gabbard confirmed she is asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to “investigate the criminal implications” of new evidence around “Russiagate,” including referring Obama for investigation.  

“The evidence that we have found, and that we have released, directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment,” she said. “There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.” 

Gabbard’s comments at the White House press briefing follow the release of what she is calling “new evidence” related to Russiagate.  

Under Trump’s direction, Gabbard announced Wednesday morning the declassified House Intelligence Committee report “that exposes how the Obama administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false, promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.” 

The newly released document, dated Sept. 18, 2020, details intelligence findings that Russia had little to no influence over the results of the 2016 presidential election.  

On Nov. 6, 2016, just before Election Day, a memo from the intelligence community did “not mention Putin helping or even showing concern about Trump’s election chances,” the report explains.   

But about a month after the election, the report states that Obama directed the intelligence community “to review their work to date on the Russian influence campaign, and quickly produce the new [Intelligence Community Assessment] for release in early January, before President-elect Trump took office. The ICA would rehash much of the previously published material on Russian activities, but would also include the judgment that [Russian] President Putin ‘aspired’ for Trump to win. CIA would be the lead drafter, in coordination with FBI and NSA.” 

Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush issued a statement Tuesday after the initial claims of Obama’s involvement in Russiagate. 

“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one,” Rodenbush said. 

“These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” the Obama spokesman continued. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election, but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.” 

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