Tulsi Gabbard Accuses Obama of Faking Russia Intel
Tulsi Gabbard has blamed former President Barack Obama of "manufacturing intelligence" to falsely tie Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign to Russian interference. Addressing the White House on July 23, Gabbard alleged that the Obama administration fabricated a false narrative to deceive Americans.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) declassified additional documents regarding the intelligence community's evaluation of Russia's activities in the 2016 election shortly after her statement. While Gabbard has doubled down on her accusations on social media, Democrats have called the claims baseless and politically motivated.
During a White House press briefing, Tulsi Gabbard stated the newly declassified documents reveal what she referred to as "egregious weaponisation and politicisation of intelligence." She accused Obama of personally spearheading efforts to produce a false intelligence assessment.
"Evidence we have uncovered and made public points directly to President Obama being behind the manufacture of this intelligence report," she stated. The aim, as per her, was to advance "a fabricated narrative" that Russia had intervened to assist Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 election.
Going on X, Gabbard blamed Obama administrators for intentionally creating false conclusions in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment. "Obama officials created the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment they knew was FALSE, advancing the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government assisted President Trump to win the 2016 election," she tweeted.
The explosive revelation follows days after she issued threats of legal and political action against the members of the past administration.
Answering the renewed allegations, the US Director of National Intelligence declassified more documents on July 23. The documents are from a report authored by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on September 18, 2020.
This report had been kept secret until today. It was declassified after Donald Trump publicly accused Obama of falsely connecting him to Russia to discredit his administration. Trump had earlier called for greater transparency, accusing the intelligence community of being biased.
Democratic leadership was quick to deny Gabbard's accusations. Former Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush described the accusations as "bizarre," stating, "These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.
He explained that nothing in last week's published information "undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully tamper with any votes.
Senator Mark Warner replied more forcibly. "It appears the Trump administration is going to declassify everything except the Epstein files," he said, talking about internal angst in Congress about releasing documents surrounding convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Tulsi Gabbard's charges reopened the partisan fault line regarding the 2016 election and Russia's involvement. Her comments seem coordinated with Trump's overall attempt to dispute the initial intelligence narrative. The timing of the declassification also becomes problematic, particularly as controversies on transparency, election integrity, and previous investigations heat up.
Although the recently released documents are not likely to move the intelligence community's consensus, they will fuel existing political debates leading up to the 2026 midterms.
For the moment, Gabbard holds fast. Obama's supporters brush aside her accusations. And the public is left again sorting through partisan crossfire on one of America's most polarising election controversies.
