Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced Friday night that she will refer a newly declassified 2016 memo to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution, calling it a bombshell revelation in the Russian collusion narrative.
The memo reveals, for the first time, that U.S. intelligence officials had concluded Russia did not play a significant role in Donald Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton. This finding directly contradicts earlier testimony from top Obama-era officials, including then-CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey, who claimed they had seen evidence justifying the launch of the investigation.
The document’s authors told then-President Barack Obama they had concluded “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.” The authors added, “Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes.”
The intelligence community’s conclusions then were a vindication of President Trump’s longstanding claim that he never “colluded with Russia” to “steal” the 2016 election. In fact, documents unveiled since directly implicate his then-Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and her campaign.
Despite this, intelligence officials green-lit the bogus Russian collusion investigation that was used to largely hamstring President Trump’s first term. The hoax also had a significant outcome on the 2018 midterm elections, polls from the time found.
Gabbard told Hannity (see video below):
It lays out, these over 100 documents that you’re referencing, that I declassified and released, spells out in great detail exactly what happens when you have some of the most powerful people in our country directly leading at the helm, President Obama and his senior-most national security cabinet, James Comey, John Brennan, James Clapper, and Susan Rice and others, essentially making a very intentional decision to create this manufactured, politicized piece of intelligence with the objective of subverting the will of the American people.
The intelligence chief suggested that the Obama Administration was attempting to subvert the results of the 2016 election by undermining Trump’s presidency with a baseless investigation. “The years-long Mueller investigation that cost taxpayers almost $40 million to congressional impeachments, endless smears and attacks against not only President Trump, but his family. He had senior members of his team who were investigated, some arrested and jailed,” she said.
“We had heightened and increased tensions between the United States and Russia. The list goes on and on about the consequences of President Obama and his senior cabinet members politicizing intelligence,” Gabbard added.
The intelligence chief confirmed she will be referring the documents to the Department of Justice for further investigation, emphasizing that accountability is “critical” to restoring trust in America’s institutions.
“I am referring all of these documents that we have found and uncovered, referring them to the Department of Justice for further investigation. Accountability and action; not just investigation, but action. Accountability has to take place,” she said. “The American people’s ability to have faith and trust in the integrity of our democratic republic is literally what’s at stake and therefore the future of our ability to exist as the country that we know it. This accountability is critical to make sure that this never happens again.”
The Department of Justice has already launched investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey over potentially false statements made to Congress. While details remain limited, sources within the department told Fox News that investigators are examining the possibility of a broad “conspiracy,” a development that could trigger deeper, more targeted investigations and potential criminal prosecutions.
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