Tulsi Gabbard Levels Allegations Against Obama in White House Briefing on Russia Probe
In a White House briefing, Tulsi Gabbard intensified allegations against the Obama administration, claiming a conspiracy to undermine the 2016 election through falsified intelligence on Russian interference.
Written By Dennis Parham and Faye Hanes // EEW Magazine Online
Key Facts
Tulsi Gabbard, as Director of National Intelligence, alleged that former President Barack Obama and his advisers conspired to subvert the 2016 election by fabricating evidence of Russian interference favoring Donald Trump.
Her claims reference a 2018 report from Republican staff on the House Intelligence Committee, which acknowledges Russian election meddling but disputes the intelligence community's conclusion that Vladimir Putin preferred Trump.
Gabbard has referred related documents to the Justice Department for potential criminal investigation, while Obama's office has dismissed the allegations as "bizarre," "ridiculous," and a "weak attempt at distraction."
In a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room on Wednesday, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, intensified scrutiny on the Obama administration's handling of the 2016 Russia election interference investigation.
Gabbard accused former President Barack Obama and his top advisers of orchestrating a conspiracy to undermine the election results by manufacturing false intelligence about Russia's role in supporting Donald Trump's campaign.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard delivers remarks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2025, as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt looks on. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Gabbard, who was a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who ran for the party’s nomination in 2020 and left the party in 2022, described the actions as a "gross politicization and weaponization of intelligence," stating, "They conspired to subvert the will of the American people."
She emphasized that her review was intended to expose the alleged misuse of national security institutions for partisan purposes, stopping short of directly accusing Obama of treason but deferring such determinations to Justice Department lawyers.
The allegations draw from a 2018 report prepared by Republican staff on the House Intelligence Committee during Trump's first term in office. That document affirms Russia's interference in the 2016 election through methods such as hacking and social media campaigns. However, it criticizes the intelligence community's January 2017 assessment, which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to boost Trump's candidacy.
The report also points to the inclusion of the Steele dossier—an uncorroborated collection of claims about Trump's ties to Russia—as an annex to the assessment, though federal investigations, including the FBI's initial probe launched in July 2016, were not primarily based on that dossier.
"There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard said. "They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn't."
Gabbard announced that she had forwarded declassified documents to the Justice Department for evaluation of possible criminal implications, including emails from Obama administration officials indicating they concluded Moscow did not hack state election systems to alter votes.
This release builds on prior declassifications, such as a 2020 summary by former DNI John Ratcliffe, which similarly questioned aspects of the Russia probe but did not alter the broader consensus from multiple investigations, including a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report affirming Putin's pro-Trump preference.
In response, a spokesperson for Obama's post-presidential office, Patrick Rodenbush, rejected the claims outright, stating, "These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction." The statement aligns with broader push-back from Obama-era officials, who have largely remained silent on specific names mentioned in the releases but have historically defended the integrity of the 2016 intelligence assessments as based on credible evidence from multiple agencies.
Gabbard was accompanied by her husband, who recorded the briefing on video. President Trump later shared the footage on his social media platform, pinning it prominently, and had earlier praised Gabbard as "the hottest person in the room" during a related event. The White House, through press secretary Karoline Leavitt, declined to comment on the timing of the presentation or suggestions that it might serve as a distraction from other matters, such as ongoing questions about Trump's past associations with Jeffrey Epstein.
Reactions to Gabbard's remarks have been divided along partisan lines. Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Mark Warner, have called for her resignation, arguing that her actions prioritize political loyalty over national security objectivity. In contrast, some Republicans, like Rep. Rick Crawford, have supported the effort as a step toward restoring public trust in the intelligence community.
Fact-checks and analyses from outlets like FactCheck.org have described elements of Gabbard's claims as misleading, noting they contrast with findings from the Mueller report, the Durham investigation, and Senate reviews that upheld the core intelligence assessments on Russian interference.
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