Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, accuses several Obama administration officials of participating in a “treasonous conspiracy” surrounding the 2016 election in which Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. She calls for them to face criminal prosecution.
On Friday, the former democratic lawmaker, turned Trump supporter, alleged that the officials “manipulated and withheld” key intelligence from the public related to the possibility of Russian interference in the election, resulting in Trump’s 2016 win.
She notably names former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI Director James Comey, as well as others allegedly involved in the White House’s review of possible Russian interference in the election.
In a post on X, Gabbard wrote, “The Obama administration’s goal was to usurp [sic] President Trump and subvert the will of the American people. No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The integrity of our democratic republic depends on it.” Her claims are ironic given that Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6th in an attempted coup.
The Trump administration continues to target critics and seeks to endlessly relitigate both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. President Donald Trump accused Former FBI Director James Comey of a “corrupt and vicious witch hunt” against him, as former intelligence officials probed the Kremlin’s possible attempts to interfere in American politics and the election.
Following multiple investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, regarded as the most thorough publicly available account of Moscow’s attempts to sway the election and the Trump campaign’s contact with Russian officials, it was found that the Kremlin did wage an aggressive effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, specifically to boost his chance in the polls. Yet there was no evidence that Moscow’s hackers attempted to actually change votes, which the Obama administration assessment concluded as well.
Gabbard’s report centers on intelligence in declassified reports that “foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome” in an attempt to discredit larger investigations into, and warnings about, Russian meddling in the 2016 election. She stated, “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 [sic] the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.”
The Director of National Intelligence said she would provide all related documents to the Justice Department for criminal referral, to “deliver the accountability that President Donald Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.” Her claims follow a laundry list of examples of the Trump administration targeting critics of the President.
