Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, has called for the prosecution of former President Barack Obama and other senior national security officials, accusing them of a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory by alleging Russian interference.
In a statement accompanying the release of declassified documents, Gabbard claimed that Obama and his team “manufactured intelligence” using the discredited Steele dossier to suggest that Russia had interfered in the election. She described the effort as a “years-long coup” intended to usurp the president’s mandate.
Gabbard named several officials as being implicated, including former CIA director John Brennan, former secretary of state John Kerry, former national security adviser Susan Rice, former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, and former director of national intelligence James Clapper. She urged the justice department to investigate and prosecute all involved “to the fullest extent of the law”.
The call comes as the Trump administration faces mounting pressure from its Maga base to release files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has dismissed the existence of such files or claimed they were fabricated by Obama and his officials.
The documents published by Gabbard’s office include a partially redacted intelligence community assessment from the Obama administration, as well as memos from Clapper’s office. The accompanying commentary uses terms like “Russia Hoax” and alleges that leaks to the Washington Post were part of a deep state conspiracy.
