On Friday, director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard released “overwhelming evidence” that former president Barack Obama and other top Cabinet and Intelligence Community (I.C.) members conspired to “subvert the will of the American people” after President Trump won the 2016 election.  The newly declassified Russiagate documents show that Obama and other high-level officials allegedly did everything they could to “delegitimize President Trump’s victory” with false claims and “countless smears.”

According to Gabbard, the newly released documents further prove a conspiracy that would perpetrate a “years-long coup” against President Trump.  She also stated that those involved reportedly hoped to destroy the mandate and legacy “bestowed upon him by the American people.”  It may well be one of the biggest political crimes in U.S. history.

Gabbard’s release decisively obliterates the longstanding claim that Moscow swung the 2016 election for Donald Trump.  It also marks the first time a senior Trump administration official has directly implicated former president Barack Obama as an active participant in the alleged conspiracy.

Gabbard’s disclosure follows two earlier Trump‑era document dumps: a May release detailing Nellie Ohr’s sworn testimony misrepresentations about Crossfire Hurricane, and an early July declassification of the December 2016 intelligence assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 contest.

The newest release includes a “Russia Hoax Memo & Timeline” and a 35-page evidentiary package entitled “Declassified Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump’s 2016 Victory and Presidency.”

Together, they make three things unmistakably clear:

1. The Intelligence Community (I.C.) repeatedly concluded — before and after Election Day — that Russia lacked both the intent and capability to alter U.S. vote totals.  A September 12, 2016, I.C. assessment found that “foreign adversaries do not have and will probably not obtain the capabilities to successfully execute widespread and undetected cyber‑attacks” on election infrastructure.
2. Those conclusions were suppressed or overwritten at the direction of senior Obama officials and probably Obama himself after Trump won.  Talking points drafted for DNI James Clapper on December 7, 2016, stated flatly, “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the U.S. Presidential election outcome,” yet the president’s daily brief containing those conclusions was killed hours later.

Below is an example of one of the emails provided, suggesting that the I.C. knew that Russia “was not and will not try to influence the election via cyber means.”

3. A hastily ordered Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), released January 6, 2017, relied in part on the since‑discredited Steele dossier and became the cornerstone of years‑long investigations and impeachment efforts — despite internal dissent warning it was “politicized intelligence.”

A Timeline of Manipulation and Deceit

Included in the timeline released by Gabbard on July 18 are the following findings:

• 31 Aug 2016 — DHS tells then‑DNI Clapper there is “no indication” of a Russian plan to manipulate vote counts.

• 2 Sept 2016 — FBI asks that a forthcoming pre‑election assessment be “softened” because bureau analysts are “uncomfortable” implying Russia intends to disrupt the election.

• 12 Sept 2016 — I.C. publishes the cyber‑threat ICA concluding adversaries cannot covertly overturn the vote.

• 7 Oct 2016 — ODNI/DHS press release blames Russia for DNC hacks but omits that FBI and NSA had “low confidence” in that attribution.

• 7 Dec 2016 — Draft PDB reiterates that Russia did not tamper with election infrastructure; FBI abruptly withdraws, and a senior official quashes the product.

• 8 Dec 2016 — I.C. officials plan to publish the PDB the next day due to “high administration interest,” knowing Russian actors “did not impact recent U.S. election results.”  Hours later, the FBI withdraws, announces it will draft a dissent, and a senior PDB editor cancels the brief “based on new guidance.”

• 9 Dec 2016 — Obama convenes National Security Council principals — including John Brennan, Susan Rice, Loretta Lynch, and Andrew McCabe — and orders a new ICA.  That same day, two “blatantly false leaks” reach The Washington Post, alleging that Russia hacked the vote and that the CIA concluded that Moscow had intervened to elect Trump.

• 14 Dec 2016 through late Dec 2016 — Leaks continue claiming Vladimir Putin was “personally involved.”  Obama continued to push the narrative that Russia could be involved.  Asks Putin to “knock it off.” An ODNI whistle‑blower who challenges the narrative is sidelined and pressured to accept the finding that Russia preferred Trump, a position he writes he “could not concur with in good conscience.”

• 6 Jan 2017 — The unclassified ICA is released, asserting that Putin ordered an influence campaign to help Trump — contradicting months of I.C. reporting and relying in part on the Steele dossier.

Two years later, in September 2019, while assisting with a FOIA request on the Obama‑era ICA, the same ODNI whistleblower was asked to locate records tied to the Steele dossier because, the whistleblower was told, the dossier “played a role” in that assessment. The request stunned the whistleblower, who had long been told that DNI Clapper considered the dossier unreliable, and no one on the National Intelligence Council had ever suggested that it was a credible document.

Gabbard’s press release shows that Obama administration officials knowingly “manufactured” the Steele Dossier and allegedly misrepresented Russia’s role in influencing the election.  She added that the newly released assessment exposes the fact that “this was politicized intelligence that was used as a basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize President Trump’s victory.”

Because of the Russia Hoax, she notes that Trump suffered two ill-conceived congressional impeachments, and tensions were heightened with Russia.  Former national security adviser to President Trump, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, had to resign and then endured years of costly litigation and reputational harm.  Many others connected with the Trump administration suffered mightily because of the conspiracy.

Notably, in both her press release and her July 18 X post, Gabbard alludes to her commitment to fully investigate, prosecute, and deliver accountability “to the fullest extent of the law” to the American people and to President Trump and his family.

Image: Tulsi Gabbard.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.