Former presidential candidate and current Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has ignited political controversy after alleging that top officials in the Obama administration orchestrated a deliberate effort in 2016 to sabotage then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
In a newly released intelligence report on Friday, Gabbard claimed there was a “treasonous conspiracy” within the Obama-era intelligence leadership aimed at shaping public perception around Russian election interference to discredit Trump and tilt the outcome in favor of Hillary Clinton.
The report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), is the latest in a series of attempts under the Trump-aligned faction of government to question the now eight-year-old intelligence consensus that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to aid Donald Trump.
Gabbard’s report argues that the Obama administration may have pressured intelligence agencies to skew assessments by conflating Russia’s cyber intrusions into election systems with its broader influence operations on social media and document leaks. The implication: that officials distorted the narrative to strengthen claims of Trump’s alleged collusion with Moscow.
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However, top Democrats have strongly dismissed Gabbard’s findings. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, branded the treason accusations as “baseless.” Similarly, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report confused distinct categories of Russian activity—cyber hacking vs. psychological influence—and misrepresented previously verified conclusions.
“This is one more example of the Director of National Intelligence trying to cook the books,” Warner said. “We’re talking about apples and oranges.”
Multiple intelligence assessments, including a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report, have supported the original 2016 finding that Russia sought to interfere in the election by damaging Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and boosting Trump’s.
The new report includes emails suggesting that then-President Barack Obama asked for a detailed intelligence review before leaving office. While some Republicans argue that this move was politically motivated, Obama-era officials say the intention was to preserve transparency before the Trump administration could potentially bury the findings.
Notably, the report acknowledges that Russia did not attempt to change actual vote tallies, but it questions why an article clarifying that point was withheld from the President’s Daily Brief at the time.
As the debate continues, the intelligence community has reiterated in its most recent reviews—under Gabbard’s leadership—that Russia continues to engage in disinformation campaigns aimed at weakening democratic systems and public trust in elections.
Whether Gabbard’s claims will lead to further investigation remains to be seen. But the political fallout from reopening the 2016 election controversy is already fueling renewed tensions between Democrats and Republicans as the 2024 race looms.
