By Derek VanBuskirk, Daily Caller News Foundation | July 18, 2025
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard on Friday released what she called “overwhelming evidence” showing former President Barack Obama and his national security team “manufactured and politicized intelligence” after President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
The newly declassified file arrives after a bruising, years-long saga over allegations that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to sway the election. Investigators ultimately failed to prove collusion, fueling scrutiny of how the probe was launched and whether federal agencies acted fairly.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard on Friday released what she called “overwhelming evidence” showing former President Barack Obama and his national security team “manufactured and politicized intelligence” after President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
The newly declassified file arrives after a bruising, years-long saga over allegations that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to sway the election. Investigators ultimately failed to prove collusion, fueling scrutiny of how the probe was launched and whether federal agencies acted fairly.
The DNI statement said that this “new assessment was based on information that was known by those involved to be manufactured,” referring to the Steele Dossier, which was a privately funded and unverified report alleging Trump-Russia ties.
The file revealed not only that there was no evidence Trump was acting as a Russian asset, but also no evidence Russia planned to “use cyber means” or “directly manipulate the actual vote count” to sway the election.
The memo accompanying the declassified file accused the DNI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of withholding key context, leaving out in their press release that the FBI and NSA had only “low confidence” in blaming Russia for data leaks in September 2016, just weeks before the election.
It nonetheless acknowledged “supporting evidence indicating the Russian government directed hacking of the DNC and [the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee].”
The memo also claimed “Deep State officials in the [intelligence community began] leaking blatantly false intelligence to the Washington Post” in December, after the election.
Those officials told the Post that Russia had used “cyber means” to sway “the outcome of the election” and that the CIA had “concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened” to help Trump.
A DNI whistleblower said they “could not concur in good conscience based on the information available” that there was “a decisive Russian preference for then-candidate Donald Trump,” according to the memo.
“This was politicized intelligence that was used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize 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,” the statement continued.
“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,” Gabbard said. “Their egregious abuse of power and blatant rejection of our Constitution threatens the very foundation and integrity of our democratic republic.”
“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,” Gabbard continued. “The American people’s faith and trust in our democratic republic and therefore the future of our nation depends on it. As such, I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.”
Gabbard called for everyone involved to be investigated and prosecuted, adding that she was “turning over all documents to the DOJ for criminal referral.”
Derek VanBuskirk is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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