Tulsi Gabbard openly accuses Obama of longstanding effort to overthrow Trump in coup
Gabbard released declassified emails Friday and claimed that they reveal a 'treasonous conspiracy' committed by former President Barack Obama and his officials over the investigation surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump pushed the 'conspiracy' over the weekend on Truth Social by sharing an interview Gabbard gave Fox News on the allegations. He also congratulated Gabbard in a separate post Saturday.
'Their goal was 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,' Gabbard said of the Obama administration.
Democrats have blasted the accusation as an attempt to 'change the subject' from the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The president has found himself on the receiving end of MAGA's fury over the Justice Department's decision not to release any further evidence in the convicted pedophile's case.
Trump has instructed his embattled Attorney General Pam Bondi to release some of the files relating to grand jury testimony, subject to court approval.
Gabbard has called for the prosecution of Obama and former U.S. national security officials, accusing them of 'manufacturing intelligence' to suggest that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, despite evidence proving otherwise, she claimed.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI Director James Comey were cited in the DNI memo.
Trump has claimed for years that the investigation into Russian interference was a 'hoax.'
The intelligence community has long concluded that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election through a social media campaign, but the Mueller investigation couldn't prove those operators had ties to the Trump campaign.
Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut slammed Gabbard's claims as 'utter nonsense.'
'Odd that then CIA Director Pompeo didn't say any of this. Or that none of the six DNIs in Trump's first term said any of it,' Himes responded in a post on X. 'Once again, @DNIGabbard is trashing her own people in an attempt to regain Trump's favor or to distract from the Epstein scandal. Probably both.'
He added, 'No one alleges that the Russians did technical hacks of voting technology. But ALL of the investigations, including the Senate bipartisan investigation, found that the Russians sought to influence the 2016 election in Trump's favor.'
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused Gabbard of 'weaponizing' her position as Trump's director of national intelligence.
'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president's election conspiracy theories,' Warner said in a post on X. 'It is appalling to hear DNI Gabbard accuse her own IC workforce of committing a 'treasonous conspiracy' when she was unwilling to label Edward Snowden a traitor.'
Obama has not yet responded to Gabbard's claims.
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