Justice Department announces task force targeting Obama administration
The move came hours after Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence,
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Gabbard said that after Trump's first election, Obama ordered an intelligence analysis that was subject to 'unusual directives' from him. She criticized that assessment as using unclear or unknown sources.
Under questions from reporters, she said Obama administration officials had led to a 'yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy' against Trump.
Asked if she thought Obama was implicated in criminal behavior, Gabbard said she had referred documents to the FBI.
'The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment,' she said.
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The documents Gabbard has produced, both Wednesday and last week, show that Obama administration officials wanted to complete a review before they left office and put pressure on the intelligence agencies to work quickly, but there is no evidence of criminal behavior.
The document released Wednesday was a report that the House Intelligence Committee originally drafted in 2017, when Republicans led the panel. The report took issue with the conclusion reached in December 2016 that President Vladimir Putin of Russia had favored Trump.
Only Republicans on the committee participated in the drafting of the 2017 report and revisions in 2020.
This article originally appeared in
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