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Obama officials fabricated and leaked intel in 2016 to claim that Russia helped get Trump elected, triggering years of investigations, according to a trove of documents released last Friday.

Obama officials leaked false intelligence to the press and fabricated reports claiming Russia helped Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election — even though US spy agencies had concluded the opposite — according to bombshell documents released last Friday.

The document dump, authorised by incoming Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, revealed that in the months leading up to the November 2016 election, US intelligence had consistently assessed that Russia was “probably not trying… to influence the election by using cyber means.”

Talking points were also prepared for Gabbard’s predecessor, James Clapper, who stated, “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”

However, Clapper — who served as President Barack Obama’s spy chief — never delivered those December 7 talking points to the American public. Instead, two days later, Obama gathered his top National Security Council chiefs — including Clapper, John Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Andrew McCabe and others — to discuss Russia.

Following that meeting, Clapper’s executive assistant sent an email to leaders of the US intelligence community ordering them to create a new assessment “per the President’s request” detailing “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election”.

Obama officials then leaked false statements to media outlets — beginning with The Washington Post — claiming that “Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election”.

“Nobody ever said ‘the Russians hacked the election!'”

Except, of course, they ALL said “the Russians hacked the election” 👇 pic.twitter.com/w50F9lQN9i

— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) July 22, 2025

The leaks appear to have been part of a broader effort to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s presidency by seeding public suspicion that the 2016 election outcome had been manipulated by foreign powers — a false narrative that came to be known as “Russiagate“.

.@DNIGabbard on the Russia collusion hoax: “The effect of what Pres. Obama and his senior national security team did was subvert the will of the American people, undermining our democratic republic, and enacting what would be essentially a years-long coup against Pres. Trump.” pic.twitter.com/29kviGOAdE

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 20, 2025

Obama Officials Fabricated Intel: Gabbard

A month after the leaks were issued, Clapper’s office released a new Intelligence Community Report that assessed with “high confidence” that “Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016” with the aim to “undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency”.

“Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the assessment also claimed.

That report “directly contradicted the [intelligence community] assessments that were made throughout the previous six months,” according to a press release from DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard added that her months-long probe into the Obama-era documents “reveal this new assessment was based on information that was known by those involved to be manufactured” — including the long-discredited Steele Dossier.

“This was politicised intelligence that was used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimise President Trump’s victory, the years-long Mueller investigation, two Congressional impeachments, high level officials being investigated, arrested, and thrown in jail, heightened US-Russia tensions, and more,” Gabbard further noted.

By exploiting classified processes and media leaks, Obama and his officials were able to shape the emerging narrative from behind the scenes and legitimise the launch of further investigations — all while concealing the weak evidentiary basis of their claims and distance themselves from any fallout.

Investigations related to the Trump-Russia collusion claims are estimated to have cost American taxpayers around US$50 million.

🧵 Americans will finally learn the truth about how in 2016, intelligence was politicized and weaponized by the most powerful people in the Obama Administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President @realDonaldTrump, subverting the… pic.twitter.com/UQKKZ5c4Op

— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) July 18, 2025

Criminal Referral Received by Justice Department

In publishing her Friday press release, DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard explained, “The issue I am raising is not a partisan issue. It is one that concerns every American.” She continued:

The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government. 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.

“No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again,” Director Gabbard said, adding, “We are turning over all documents to the DOJ for criminal referral.”

Major outlets like Fox News, Politico and The Economic Times reached out to former President Barack Obama and the other officials implicated in the document dump, but none have issued public comments addressing the claims.

The US Department of Justice has since confirmed that it has received Gabbard’s criminal referral concerning the revelations.

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Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.