Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed there was evidence to prosecute former President Barack Obama for his administration’s intelligence assessment of Russia’s 2016 election interference.
Gabbard declassified documents last week that she claimed provided evidence that the Obama administration’s intelligence officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork” for the FBI’s later investigation into Russian ties to President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Gabbard said she was referring documents from Obama administration officials to the Justice Department in a “criminal matter.”
“We’re going to provide everything that we have, everything that we will continue to gather to the Department of Justice for that direct intent and that direct purpose,” Gabbard said on Fox News.
“There must be indictments for those responsible, no matter how powerful they are and were at that time, no matter who was involved in creating this treasonous conspiracy against the American people, they all must be held accountable,” Gabbard said.
“I’m not a lawyer. In my view, we have the evidence to be able to move forward to prosecute and indict those responsible,” she added.
Gabbard previously said she would refer Obama administration officials to the Justice Department.
Other reviews of the Obama administration at the time, however, did not conclude what Gabbard now has. A bipartisan report in 2020 from the Senate Intelligence Committee supported the intelligence community’s assessment at the time of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Democrats have additionally criticized Gabbard’s release.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Gabbard’s threat to refer Obama administration officials to federal law enforcement for prosecution “dangerous” and said there was “absolutely” no legal basis for their prosecution.
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“When you start throwing around language like ‘sedition’ and ‘treason,’ somebody is going to get hurt,” Himes told CBS News’s Face the Nation.
“The intelligence community is full of very, very good people who do their jobs every single day, and now they’re watching their leader do something that each and every one of them knows is dishonest,” he added.