US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has called for the prosecution of former President Barack Obama and senior members of his administration.The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has accused them of working together to hurt Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 election and damage his presidency afterward.“We are turning over all documents to the DOJ for criminal referral,” Gabbard wrote on X. “Their goal was to usurp President Trump and subvert the will of the American people.”In a statement released Friday, Gabbard said there is “overwhelming evidence” showing that after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, Obama and his national security cabinet “manufactured and politicised intelligence” to lay the foundation for what she described as a years-long coup attempt.“The issue I am raising is not a partisan issue. It is one that concerns every American,” Gabbard said. “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.”
Powerful people mentioned in the statement
Gabbard announced that all related documents would be handed over to the department of justice for criminal referral, urging that “no matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”.The statement names top officials, including then-DNI James Clapper, CIA director John Brennan, national security adviser Susan Rice, secretary of state John Kerry, attorney general Loretta Lynch, and FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe among those who participated in a high-level National Security Council meeting on December 9, 2016, at the White House. Gabbard alleges that this meeting was used to initiate a new Intelligence Community (IC) assessment at Obama’s request, aimed at blaming Russia for interfering in the election.According to Gabbard, before the election, intelligence assessments had concluded that Russia was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means”. An internal memo dated December 7, 2016 also stated, “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”However, following the White House meeting, Clapper’s executive assistant reportedly directed agencies including the CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS to help prepare a fresh IC assessment on Russian interference, stating it was “per the President’s request”.Gabbard accused Obama officials of leaking “false statements” to media outlets like The Washington Post, falsely claiming that Russia had interfered to influence the outcome of the election. A final Intelligence Community Assessment released on January 6, 2017, reportedly contradicted months of previous findings.She claimed that this new assessment relied on sources that officials knew were unreliable or “manufactured”, such as the now-discredited Steele Dossier. Gabbard said that this led to a wave of consequences, including the Mueller investigation, two impeachments of Trump, arrests of high-level officials, and heightened tensions with Russia.“Their egregious abuse of power and blatant rejection of our Constitution threatens the very foundation and integrity of our democratic republic,” Gabbard said. “The American people’s faith and trust in our democratic republic and therefore the future of our nation depends on it.”Gabbard’s move comes amid growing Republican scrutiny of the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, and follows the recent release of new intelligence records under her office.
