Gabbard Claims Intel Was Manipulated During Obama Era

Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, asserted last week that the intelligence reports from 2016 were “manufactured and politicized” by influential figures within the Obama administration. She believes the truth will eventually emerge, though mainstream media hasn’t seemed to announce anything particularly significant about it.

On Friday, Gabbard declassified documents that she claims provide “overwhelming evidence” showing how President Barack Obama and his national security team initiated a prolonged investigation into supposed Trump-Russian collusion after Donald Trump won the presidential election against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Interestingly, a search via Grabien Media found that ABC News and NBC News did not cover this development by Sunday.

Documents Suggest Intel Was Fabricated

CBS News did address the topic on “Face the Nation,” where anchor Margaret Brennan questioned Rep. Jim Himes about the legality of the prosecution. Himes referred to Gabbard’s claims as “dangerous lies” that lacked a solid legal foundation.

“When you start tossing around words like ‘treason,’ someone might get hurt,” Himes commented. “In this context, it’s treated with little more than ridicule.”

Newsbusters analyst Jorge Bonilla expressed surprise that just one major Sunday show touched on the issue after other programs like NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week” overlooked it.

“To be clear, it wasn’t a bipartisan segment or an interview with Gabbard, but CBS’s Margaret Brennan did bring Democrats on to downplay the release and subsequent actions,” Bonilla noted.

Gabbard Alleges An “Uncomfortable Conspiracy”

Reports suggested that CNN mentioned Gabbard’s revelations twice since Fox News Digital broke the story Friday afternoon, and again early Saturday.

During a segment, CNN’s Jake Tapper invited Rep. Jason Crow, who claimed that the initial intelligence report aimed to redirect attention away from other issues, like the Jeffrey Epstein case, undermining the effectiveness of Trump’s actions against Iran.

Meanwhile, MSNBC appeared to downplay Gabbard’s claims, with Eiman Mocheldin stating that the report was merely a distraction for Republicans.

Investigations of Former Officials Underway

John Brennan, former CIA director under Obama, criticized Gabbard’s claims, labeling her accusations as “troublesome” and misrepresentative of the intelligence community’s actions in 2016.

The New York Times noted that there was an ongoing effort by the Obama administration to undermine Trump in 2016, pointing out that Democrats have described Gabbard’s assertions as politically motivated and inconsistent.

The Washington Post only briefly addressed Gabbard’s allegations in an article primarily focusing on Trump’s interests in other matters, like Epstein.

According to the documents, in the run-up to the November 2016 election, the intelligence community assessed that Russia was “probably not using cyber means to influence elections.” Gabbard’s office asserted there was no evidence that Russia sought to change the vote counts prior to the election. However, later intelligence discussions suggested that Vladimir Putin aimed to assist Trump’s election. Gabbard contended that the narrative shift was politically driven, lacking a basis in fresh findings.

“The information provided by Russia claiming they helped Trump was fabricated, contradicting earlier assessments made leading up to the election,” Gabbard stated in an interview. She further argued that the actions of Obama and his senior team had detrimental effects on democracy.

Evidence released pointed to former figures like Brennan and FBI leaders who are now commentators on CNN and MSNBC.