SCOOP: New whistleblower documents show Barack Obama requested "a new IC assessment" to blame Russia for 2016 election interference

Shortly after the 2016 election, President Barack Obama and his intelligence community (IC) determined that Russia was “probably not trying …to influence the election by using cyber means.”

Just days later, Obama himself “request[ed]” that his IC “creat[e] a new IC assessment” placing culpability on the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

“President [Barack] Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President [Donald] Trump,” according to a bombshell report based on documents and emails sent by a whistleblower.

This report from Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard completely changes the narrative about so-called Russian interference in the 2016 election, and complicates attempts to criticize the Trump administration for allegedly politicizing intelligence.

Under Gabbard’s stewardship, the DNI has strenuously sought to depoliticize intelligence, which she explained with this release.

“The issue I am raising is not a partisan issue,” Gabbard said. “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,” she continued.

The actions Gabbard uncovered amount to an “egregious abuse of power and blatant rejection of our Constitution threatens the very foundation and integrity of our democratic republic,” she explained. Gabbard also wants people prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law” where necessary.

“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,” she said.

Gabbard will provide the Department of Justice with “all documents” needed “to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.”

Her report’s findings are nothing short of sensational.

“In the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the Intelligence Community (IC) consistently assessed that Russia is ‘probably not trying …to influence the election by using cyber means,’” she found.

However, that didn’t stop Obama administration officials from leaking what Gabbard categorizes as “false statements” to outlets like the Washington Post, claiming that “Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election.”

On December 7th, 2016, talking points were prepared for then-DNI James Clapper, which read that “foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”

Just two days later, however, Gabbard noted that “on December 9, 2016, President Obama’s White House gathered top National Security Council Principals for a meeting that included James Clapper, John Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe and others, to discuss Russia.”

After that meeting, Clapper’s team requested that intelligence community leaders — including the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS — “creat[e] a new IC assessment ‘per the President’s request’ that details the ‘tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.’”

It went on to say, “‘ODNI will lead this effort with participation from CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS.’”

One of the first articles written following this meeting, in which the IC completely reversed its conclusions at the behest of an outgoing president, was written by Ellen Nakashima, who Gabbard recently accused of hiding her identity while calling DNI staff to request information.

In response to this report, Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) told the Washington Reporter that “James Comey, James Clapper, and John Brennan did enormous damage to our national security.”

“They should be held fully accountable to prevent this type of illegal and un-American weaponization of the Intelligence community from ever happening again,” Cotton, the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, said.