ODNI Director Gabbard declassifies files claiming Obama treason

DNI Tulsi Gabbard issued a press release on Jul. 18, 2025 claiming she had uncovered overwhelming evidence of a treasonous conspiracy by Obama administration officials. She alleged they manufactured intelligence about Russian 2016 election interference to undermine President Trump.

On Jul. 23, 2025, Gabbard declassified a 2017 House Republican Intelligence Committee report that was previously stored at CIA headquarters. She briefed reporters at the White House and referred the matter to the DOJ for criminal prosecution of Obama-era officials.

Gabbard's core claim conflates two different intelligence assessments. Pre-election reports said Russia probably could not manipulate voting machines through cyberattacks. The Jan. 2017 assessment found Putin ordered influence operations through social media and hacked emails. Both conclusions can be true simultaneously.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a DOJ strike force on Jul. 23, 2025 to evaluate Gabbard's evidence. On Aug. 4, 2025, she ordered prosecutors to open a grand jury investigation into former Obama administration officials over their handling of the Russia intelligence.

PolitiFact and FactCheck.org rated Gabbard's claims as misleading. They found she falsely presented a contradiction where none existed. The 2017 assessment explicitly stated Russian actors did not impact vote-tallying systems, consistent with earlier cybersecurity assessments.

A bipartisan 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio, unanimously concluded Russia interfered in 2016 to benefit Trump. The 966-page report confirmed Putin ordered the DNC cyberattacks and WikiLeaks coordination.

Special Counsel John Durham's four-year investigation ended in May 2023 with a 306-page report criticizing FBI procedures but not recommending any new charges against Obama officials. Durham indicted three people; one pleaded guilty to a minor offense, and two were acquitted.

Rep. Jim Himes warned on CBS Face the Nation that Gabbard's use of sedition and treason language was a very dangerous lie because somebody is going to get hurt. He predicted no judge in the land would take the allegations seriously.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe strongly supported Gabbard's declassifications and initiated the process. However, NBC News reported that CIA officials objected to releasing the House report, warning it could compromise sensitive sources and methods.

Larry Pfeiffer, a former senior CIA and NSA official, called the declassified House report probably the lightest redaction of the most sensitive document I have ever seen. He warned it could alert Moscow to intelligence collection methods.

In Aug. 2025, CBS News reported Gabbard issued a directive barring intelligence agencies from sharing information about Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations with Five Eyes allies. A DNI spokesperson denied the report was accurate.

Obama's spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush called the allegations bizarre and ridiculous, stating that nothing in the declassified documents undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 election.