WASHINGTON, D.C. — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is accusing the Obama administration of “treasonous conspiracy” for promoting what she called “the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.”

In a social media post today, Gabbard said former President Trump had ordered the declassification of a 2017 House Intelligence Committee report, which she released on July 23. Gabbard said the report exposes “the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history.”

The declassified report, drafted by Republicans when they controlled the House Intelligence Committee, disputed the December 2016 assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the election to support Trump over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

This latest disclosure builds on Gabbard’s statement from July 18, in which she alleged that former President Barack Obama and senior national security officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.”

According to Gabbard, intelligence assessments before the 2016 election concluded that Russia was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.” 

Talking points prepared for then-DNI James Clapper on December 7, 2016, stated: “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”

But according to Gabbard, following a December 9, 2016, meeting at the Obama White House with top National Security Council officials (including DNI Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, NSA Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, AG Loretta Lynch, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe) an email from DNI Clapper’s executive assistant instructed intelligence leaders to draft a new assessment “per the President’s request” detailing “the tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

On January 6, 2017, the Intelligence Community released a new assessment concluding that Russia had interfered in the election to help Trump. 

Gabbard said that assessment relied on information “known by those involved to be manufactured, i.e., the Steele Dossier, or deemed as not credible.”

“The issue I am raising is not a partisan issue. It is one that concerns every American,” Gabbard said July 18. “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.”

“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 the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.”

She continued: “Their egregious abuse of power and blatant rejection of our Constitution threatens the very foundation and integrity of our democratic republic. No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. The American people’s faith and trust in our democratic republic and therefore the future of our nation depends on it.”

Gabbard said all documents have been provided to the Department of Justice “to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.”

President Trump, responding to Gabbard’s releases, has escalated his accusations against his predecessor.  

In comments from the Oval Office on July 22, Trump told reporters that Obama was guilty of treason.

“After what they did to me, whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people. Obama’s been caught directly,” Trump said. He accused Obama of trying to “steal the election” in 2016. “Look, he’s guilty. It’s not a question. . . . This was treason, this was every word you can think of.”

Earlier, Trump called the declassified documents “proof” of Obama’s role in efforts to undermine his presidency. 

“We found absolute — this isn’t like evidence, this is like proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was seditious. That Obama was trying to lead a coup. And it was with Hillary Clinton and with all these other people, but Obama headed it up. And, you know, I get a kick when I hear everyone talks about people I never even heard of. […] It was Obama, he headed it up. And it says so right in the papers,” Trump said.

Obama’s spokesperson said in a statement that while the former president’s office “does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” the Trump administration’s new “bizarre” and “ridiculous” allegations warranted one:

“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”

On July 22, Gabbard responded by saying that former President Obama’s office was “trying to deflect away from what actually happened.”

“There is a long laundry list of facts and intelligence reporting that directly contradict the statement coming from President Obama’s office and those who are trying to deflect away from what actually happened,” Gabbard said.  

“… After Donald Trump was elected, led by President Obama, there was an effort to create a document that would serve as a foundation for what would be a years-long coup against President Trump, therefore trying to subvert the will of the American people who sent him to the White House in 2016.”

While speaking at a reception with Republican lawmakers at the White House, Trump gave a shout-out to Gabbard, saying, “She’s like, hotter than everybody. She’s the hottest one in the room right now.”

Trump said to House Speaker Mike Johnson, “Speaker, she’s hotter than you right now, speaker. She’s the hottest person in the room right now, speaker.”

The Washington Post fact checker, on the other hand, says Gabbard’s “seditious conspiracy” claims are based on “thin gruel,” adding that the “DNI’s announcement flies in the face of the conclusions of four previous investigations totaling more than 2,500 pages.”

The Guardian is reporting that a former CIA analyst and national intelligence officer, Fulton Armstrong, says that Gabbard’s paper “was obviously written with a pre-ordained conclusion.”

“Even a quick read shows how the confusion between confidence and probability [over intelligence assessments] – even if not deliberate – leads to sloppiness and manipulation,” Armstrong said in an email to the newspaper.

“The bigger problem is that Tulsi’s paper is such shit. Her reference to ‘deep state officials’ is amateurish, silly, and undercuts the whole damned document.”

“She’s clever to use crappy precedents and confusion to make her case, but an issue like Russian manipulation of US elections, with so many analysts from diverse organizational cultures, is almost certainly going to leave enough offal on the floor that anyone who wanted to make a one-sided political slam job can find enough to fill an 11-page paper.”

On July 19, Gabbard was interviewed on Fox & Friends Weekend Edition and again accused President Obama and his leadership team of engaging in a “cooked up, treasonous conspiracy.”  

Gabbard reiterated, “They did effectively launch a yearslong coup against the President of the United States.”

Fox & Friends co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy told Gabbard she thought that Americans would be encouraged by the new revelations:

“Director Gabbard, I’m glad you used the word ‘coup.’ I also saw in some of your reports the word ‘treason’ has come up, and um, we’re seeing a lot of things coming to light these days and it’s very encouraging for Americans and especially this report, which so many of us knew was just a hoax, but this goes all the way to the top! This goes all the way to Barack Obama! Will we actually see someone as high up as Barack Obama take responsibility, be accountable, maybe face criminal charges? Is that a possibility here based on the documents that you’ve released?”

Fox & Friends co-host Griff Jenkins followed up, asking Gabbard again, “As voters, can we feel confident that…Will we see charges come of this?”

Gabbard gave Campos-Duffy and Jenkins her final answer:

“I’m not a lawyer. We’re referring all of this to the DOJ. I know that Attorney General Pam Bondi is committed to bringing justice to those who have broken the law, and in this case, again, what these documents detail to me and my view cannot be explained as anything but a treasonous conspiracy.”

The files and memos from both of Gabbard’s releases on July 18 and July 23 are available at DNI.gov. Gabbard said she will continue to post updates on X (@DNIGabbard) and Truth Social (@DNlTulsiGabbard)