Obama Fires Back After Trump Labels Him a Traitor Over Russia Probe

WASHINGTON D.C. — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a previously classified House Intelligence Committee report Wednesday, reigniting controversy over the Obama administration’s handling of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report, originally drafted in 2017 by Republicans on the committee, questioned the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin favored Donald J. Trump over Hillary Clinton.

“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,” Gabbard said in a Fox News interview. She argued the intelligence findings were “the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history.”

The declassified document highlights disagreements within U.S. intelligence agencies over the extent of Russian interference. While it acknowledges Russia’s efforts to undermine Clinton, it disputes the assertion that Putin explicitly sought to help Trump. Gabbard claimed that then-President Trump ordered the report’s declassification to reveal what she called a “treasonous conspiracy.”

Trump quickly amplified Gabbard’s assertions, accusing former President Barack Obama of orchestrating a plot against him. “We found absolute — this isn’t like evidence, this is like proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was seditious,” Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday, according to Reuters. “It was Obama, he headed it up. And it says so right in the papers.”

Former President Obama responded through spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush, who called the allegations baseless. “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” Rodenbush said in a statement. “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.”

The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2020 report supported the original intelligence community assessment, finding that Russia leveraged WikiLeaks and political operative Paul Manafort in efforts to sway the election. The committee, led by both Republicans and Democrats, affirmed the CIA’s analysis that Russia sought to harm Clinton and boost Trump’s chances.

Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the release. “Given the rushed and unusual ‘declassification’ process the D.N.I. has implemented, I fear that the public release of this report could compromise sensitive sources and methods and endanger our national security,” Himes said.

The House report, largely authored by Kash Patel, now Trump’s FBI director, contends that some judgments in the 2016 intelligence review were rushed and based on fragmentary intelligence. It particularly questioned the credibility of a key source and criticized the inclusion of information from the unverified Steele dossier.

John O. Brennan, CIA director during the 2016 assessment, has consistently denied that the Steele dossier influenced the agency’s conclusions. He said the dossier was placed in an annex at the insistence of the FBI but did not shape the intelligence findings.

Gabbard has vowed to refer details of the report to the Justice Department. Democrats and former intelligence officials argue her efforts are politically motivated and risk undermining national security. “While she claims to be correcting the record, this is exactly the kind of politicization of intelligence she claims to oppose,” one former official said.

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