Tulsi Gabbard alleges Obama 'manufactured' intel on Russian plot in 2016 polls, but critics question her report

On Wednesday, the US Department of Justice announced the formation of a task force to look into unsubstantiated allegations by US President Donald Trump against former US President Barack Obama. The announcement came hours after the US Director of National Intelligence questioned Obama and his aides for ordering an investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign and its connection to Russia .

A day after Trump accused Obama of treason over the intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to support Trump, Gabbard declassified a highly sensitive congressional report she claimed was more evidence of a “treasonous conspiracy.”

The release of the redacted report, which was written during the first Trump term by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, was seen as the Trump administration’s bid to attack the FBI’s Russia investigation and the intelligence community’s assessment on Russian election interference.

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While speaking from the White House podium on Wednesday, Gabbard fell short of accusing Obama of treason, but she alleged that “the evidence that we have found and that we have released directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment.”

“They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true,” she said. Gabbard insisted that the Russian goal in 2016 was to sow distrust in American democracy and not to help Trump.

Unsubstantiated claims

While Gabbard’s proclamation stirred a storm, her claims that the Obama administration “manufactured” the assessment are not supported by the newly redacted House report — or CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s review of the intelligence assessment, which he re-released earlier this month. In his review, Ratcliffe argued the assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin “aspired” to help Trump win the 2016 election was “defensible”.

Meanwhile, the House report, Gabbard’s assertion is based on, argued that the assessment of Russia supporting Trump made analytical leaps based on relatively thin sourcing and failed to weigh contradictory intelligence highly enough. However, it still fell short of calling the intelligence “manufactured”.

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Obama hits back

Meanwhile, Obama’s office took the unusual step of issuing an emphatic refutation after Trump told reporters that his predecessor had “[tried] to lead a coup” against him and was guilty of “treason”. “Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” the statement from Obama’s office said. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction," it furthered.

The statement went on to criticise claims made in an 11-page document released last week by Gabbard. “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,” it said.

“These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," Obama’s team averred. With Trump navigating through the Epstein scandal, many claim that the push against Obama is a diversion tactic deployed by the Trump administration to sideline the Epstein Files.