Intelligence Director Releases Evidence Obama Administration Orchestrated ‘Years-Long Coup’ Against Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Friday released documents showing Obama administration officials conspired to undermine President Trump’s 2016 election victory and presidency through manufactured intelligence assessments.

Gabbard said she is providing all documents to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.

According to DNI documents, the Intelligence Community initially assessed that Russia was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means” in the months before the November 2016 election.

The timeline detailed by Gabbard’s office shows a dramatic shift in intelligence assessments following Trump’s victory. On December 7, 2016, talking points prepared for then-DNI James Clapper stated that “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”

As outlined in documents and posts Gabbard’s shared on X, Intelligence Community officials prepared an assessment for the President’s Daily Brief on December 8, 2016, finding that Russia “did not impact recent U.S. election results” by conducting cyber attacks on infrastructure. However, she says this assessment was “abruptly pulled” before it could reach the president.

According to the release, President Obama convened a National Security Council meeting on December 9, 2016, with top officials including Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to discuss Russia.

Following that meeting, according to DNI records, Clapper’s executive assistant sent an email to Intelligence Community leaders directing them to create a new assessment “per the President’s request” detailing “the tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

The DNI claims Obama officials then “leaned on their allies in the media” to advance what she characterized as falsehoods. According to Gabbard’s social media posts, anonymous Intelligence Community sources leaked classified information to The Washington Post and other outlets asserting that “Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election.”

This coordinated effort outlined in the documents culminated in a January 6, 2017, Intelligence Community Assessment that “directly contradicted” the previous six months of intelligence assessments, according to Gabbard’s office. Released just days before President Trump took office, Gabbard described this as a “gross weaponization of intelligence” designed to undermine the incoming administration.

According to the DNI, this new assessment was based on information officials knew to be “manufactured” — specifically referencing the Steele Dossier — or deemed not credible. The intelligence office states this “politicized intelligence” formed the basis for the Mueller investigation, two congressional impeachments, and other investigations that resulted in officials being “arrested and thrown in jail.”

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

Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., responded to the intelligence revelations in a statement to Western Montana News Friday, saying “We always knew the allegations against President Trump were baseless and this just provides more proof.”

Congressman Troy Downing, R-Mont., also responded to Gabbard’s findings Saturday, stating “Every American should be outraged, but not surprised, by the lengths to which Democratic officials would go to undermine President Trump. Director Gabbard’s report confirms what we knew all along about the Russia hoax and ushers in long overdue government transparency.”

Gabbard characterized the actions as an attempt 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.”

The DNI stated she is providing all documents to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution, saying accountability is necessary to restore “the American people’s faith and trust in 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,” Gabbard said.

The evidence provided to the Justice Department by Gabbard represent a significant escalation in claims about the origins of the Russia investigation that dominated much of Trump’s first presidency. The DNI’s office said additional files and a memo regarding the release are available on DNI.gov, with Gabbard promising updates on her social media accounts.

The document release and referral comes as Trump has returned to the presidency and appointed Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who switched parties, to lead the intelligence community.