Trump team hurls accusations at Obama over 2016 election interference
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks during a press briefing at the White House on July 23. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Wednesday continued to accuse former President Obama's administration of a "manipulation of intelligence" around Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
The big picture: Nearly a decade after he won, President Trump remains fixated on disproving the thoroughly investigated and widely held conclusion that Russia interfered to aid his campaign.
- Back in 2020, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee — including now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio — concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win but did not hack election infrastructure to manipulate cast ballots.
State of play: Gabbard released a document Wednesday that she alleges undermines previous findings from the Obama-era intelligence community that Russia favored a Trump win in 2016.
- She wrote that the Obama administration was "promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election."
- Gabbard released another memo last week, with which she accused the Obama administration of a "treasonous conspiracy" to sabotage Trump's presidency in 2016.
Driving the news: During a White House press briefing Wednesday, Gabbard again accused Obama and his national security team of directing "the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false."
- She alleged, "They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump when selling it to the American people as though it were true."
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on the claims, saying, "The truth is that Trump never had anything to do with Russia" and alleging that "the worst part of this is Obama knew that truth."
Zoom out: Asked for comment Wednesday, Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush referred Axios to his Tuesday statement where he called the allegations "outrageous" and "bizarre."
- He said in that statement, "Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes."
- In response that statement, Gabbard said Wednesday that Obama's office is "trying to deflect away from their culpability in what is a historic scandal."
Asked if the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity protects Obama from any possible prosecution, Leavitt said Trump "wants to see all those who perpetuated this fraud against our country, who betrayed our country and the Constitution to be thoroughly investigated and held accountable."
Go deeper: Obama rebukes Trump's accusations in rare response
