Tulsi Gabbard has cemented herself a place in history

Russia Today

3 days ago

In light of accusations that former US President Barack Obama had committed treason by attempting to rig the 2016 election and stage Russiagate, newly surfaced evidence shows Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, armed with a freshly declassified 2020 report by the House Intelligence Committee, went on the offensive against Obama last week during a wild White House press briefing.
Her follow-up message on X cuts to the chase and shows an administration that is no longer taking Democratic trash talk of 'Russian collusion' sitting down.
She wrote that the 'Obama administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false, promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.'
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave the presidential stamp of approval to Gabbard's statement when she exclaimed: 'There was no collusion, no corruption, except on the part of Barack Obama and the weaponized intelligence agencies at the time.'
Finally, it seems that some intelligent folks in Washington are coming around to the Kremlin's way of thinking when Russiagate was at its peak lunacy. In a nutshell, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not care who would emerge victorious in the heated contest between the Democrat Hillary Clinton and her Republican challenger Donald Trump. The Russian leader declared his willingness to work with either leader accordingly. After all, it was a radically different period for US-Russia relations, but things would change quickly thanks to a nasty thing known as Politics as Usual.
Back in 2016, after Trump stunned Washington DC by being declared the Republican victor, President Barack Obama took a dramatic and distasteful move. Before any actual evidence of Russian interference in the election was forthcoming, he singlehandedly set out to destroy US-Russia relations by expelling Russian diplomats, confiscating Russian property, and targeting Russian officials and organizations for sanctions. This was followed up by a non-stop political witch-hunt, which largely prevented Donald Trump from focusing on anything else during his first presidency that was not Russia-related.
Just seven months into Trump's first term, the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether the maverick from Manhattan and members of his campaign had colluded with Vladimir Putin to influence the 2016 campaign. After nearly three years of dragging US-Russia relations over the coals, that investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian authorities. Yet the rumors of a Trump-Putin conspiracy, drummed up unmercifully by the Democrats, continued to spiral.
That's why the revelations made by Tulsi Gabbard and her team on Wednesday are so important. They provide what appears to be the final nail into the coffin to the Democrat's great deception known as Russiagate. In fact, the revelations of skullduggery are so damaging and timely that there are rumblings on Capitol Hill that Obama and his intelligence team could face charges of treason. That would pretty much guarantee another full-blown civil war in the country. But I digress.
Amid an assortment of shenanigans, the House committee reported that 'One scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports constitutes the only classified information cited to suggest Putin 'aspired' to help Trump win.' It went on to say that the intelligence report 'ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence reports that challenged ­­– and in some cases undermined – judgments that Putin sought to elect Trump.'
The report also found that two senior CIA officers reportedly warned the highest levels of the intelligence community that 'we don't have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected.'
The declassified committee report includes intelligence from a longtime Putin confidant who explained to investigators that 'Putin told him he did not care who won the election,' and that the Russian leader 'had often outlined the weaknesses of both major candidates.'
Other revelations from the House report:
'[Then] CIA Director Brennan and the Intelligence Community (IC) mischaracterized intelligence and relied on dubious, 'substandard' sources to create a contrived false narrative that Putin developed 'a clear preference' for Trump.'
'[Then] CIA Director Brennan and the IC misled lawmakers by referencing the debunked Steele Dossier (drafted by counterintelligence agent Christopher Steele in 2016) to assess 'Russian plans and intentions,' which falsely suggested the dossier had intelligence value.'
'The IC excluded 'significant intelligence' and 'ignored or selectively quoted' reliable intelligence that contradicted the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA's) key findings on Putin's alleged support for Trump, that if included, would have exposed the ICA's claim was 'implausible – if not ridiculous.''
'Senior, experienced CIA officers who objected that the intelligence did not support the key judgment that Putin 'aspired' to help Trump win, were silenced by the outgoing Director of the CIA in December 2016. Those officers might have had their voices heard if the ICA's publication (was) delayed until after the inauguration, to allow the incoming Director of the CIA to manage the process.'
At this point, it must be asked: Is this the beacon on the democratic hill that the US likes to claim for itself? A country that sits idly by as a sitting president pulls off a years-long coup against a political challenger, while jeopardizing relations with a nuclear power/erstwhile ally? A tarnished country that relentlessly preaches to the world about its democratic credentials?
Whatever the case may be, it is indeed fortuitous that Russia has found a fair dealer in Tulsi Gabbard. This is not the first time this courageous woman has supported Russia in a world gone mad. The American politician and military officer has previously defended Russia's military operation in Ukraine, claiming that the US had provoked Russian aggression with NATO pledges to Kiev and that Ukraine housed US-funded biolabs. Her role in bringing the Russiagate hoax to a much-delayed close must be applauded, and should help US-Russia relations at a very critical time.