Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, has called for the prosecution of former President Barack Obama and other senior officials, accusing them of a “treasonous conspiracy” to suggest that Russian interference helped Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. Gabbard claimed that Obama’s administration “manufactured intelligence” using a dossier prepared by British analyst Christopher Steele, which they knew to be unreliable.
Gabbard alleged that the post-election intelligence assessments contradicted pre-election findings, which indicated Russia was probably not trying to interfere. She described the actions as a “years-long coup” aimed at undermining Trump’s presidency. “No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she said.
Gabbard said she was passing documents to the justice department, including a partially redacted intelligence community assessment and classified memos from the office of James Clapper, Obama’s former director of national intelligence. Others named in the alleged conspiracy include John Brennan, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Andrew McCabe, and Obama himself.
The comments come as Trump faces pressure from his base to release files related to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Trump has dismissed the existence of such files or claimed they were invented by Obama and his administration.
