Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard spoke to reporters at the White House on Wednesday on the heels of the latest document drop alleging Obama administration officials misled the public about intelligence surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election.<\/p>\n
Gabbard made a rare appearance in the briefing room, a sign the White House is seeking to keep a spotlight on the claims her office has levied about former President Obama and some of his intelligence officials.<\/p>\n
Here are five takeaways from the briefing.<\/p>\n
Gabbard\u2019s appearance coincided with her office\u2019s release of a previously classified report<\/a> from the House Intelligence Committee that was first drafted in 2017 and published in 2020.<\/p>\n Gabbard said one key finding was that Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s \u201cprincipal interests\u201d around the 2016 election were to \u201cundermine faith in the U.S. democratic process, not show preference of a certain candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, this report shows Putin held back leaking \u2026 compromising material on Hillary Clinton prior to the election, instead planning to release it after the election to weaken what Moscow viewed as an inevitable Clinton presidency,\u201d Gabbard said.<\/p>\n The House report determined the CIA \u201cdid not adhere to the tenets\u201d of analytic standards and said the conclusion that Putin took actions to benefit Trump was based on \u201cone scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabbard argued the report was particularly damning for Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.<\/p>\n But critics quickly panned the report as out of step with intelligence community findings and the findings of a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee released in 2020, which both established that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election and preferred President Trump win.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing in this partisan, previously scuttled document changes that. Releasing this so-called report is just another reckless act by a Director of National Intelligence so desperate to please Donald Trump that she is willing to risk classified sources, betray our allies, and politicize the very intelligence she has been entrusted to protect,\u201d Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Obama\u2019s name was uttered nearly a dozen times at Wednesday’s briefing as Gabbard and other officials have suggested the 44th president was directly involved in efforts to mislead the public.<\/p>\n “We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the criminal implications of this,\u201d Gabbard said when asked if any of the information released Wednesday implicates Obama in criminal behavior.<\/p>\n “The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact,\u201d Gabbard added.<\/p>\n Trump had a day earlier accused Obama of treason, prompting a rare public rebuke from the former president\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cOut of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,\u201d Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement. \u201cBut these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chair Marco Rubio, who now serves as Trump\u2019s secretary of State.<\/p>\n Gabbard and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeatedly dodged when pressed on what crime Obama could be charged with or whether he should go to jail for something he did related to the handling of Russian interference in the 2016 election.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m leaving the criminal charges to the DOJ. I\u2019m not an attorney,\u201d Gabbard said when asked if Obama is guilty of treason, despite previously claiming his administration\u2019s actions amounted to a \u201ctreasonous conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n She also deflected to the Justice Department when asked what Obama could be charged with, given the statute of limitations on conspiracy would have expired.<\/p>\n Leavitt repeatedly called for accountability for those who committed wrongdoing.<\/p>\n NBC News correspondent Kelly O\u2019Donnell asked what that would mean, given a previous special counsel, John Durham, did not charge Obama or his top aides when he could have, and the Supreme Court has ruled presidents have broad immunity<\/a> for acts while in office.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president has made it clear that he wanted these documents to be declassified. He wanted the American people to see the truth, and now he wants those who perpetuated these lies and this scandal to be held accountable,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for what accountability looks like \u2026 it\u2019s in the Department of Justice\u2019s hands, and we trust them to move this ball forward,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n Skeptics of the Trump administration\u2019s allegations about the Russia documents have noted that Rubio, a staunch Trump ally, was among the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee when it issued its bipartisan report<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n Democrats and other critics have pointed to Rubio\u2019s support for those conclusions to question the administration\u2019s new allegations and why he would not have raised them previously.<\/p>\n Leavitt largely sidestepped the question. She noted Rubio issued a statement in 2020 describing Russia\u2019s attempts to meddle in the election and actions taken by the FBI as \u201ctroubling.\u201d <\/p>\n CNN\u2019s Kaitlan Collins also asked whether Gabbard\u2019s release of multiple reports about Russian interference, a long-standing fixation for Trump, was meant as a way to get back in his good graces after he publicly criticized her last month.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only people who are suggesting that the director of national intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the president are the people in this room who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos among the president\u2019s Cabinet. And it\u2019s not working,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n Trump \u201chas the utmost confidence in Director Gabbard, he always has, he continues to,\u201d Leavitt added.<\/p>\nGabbard suggests Obama implicated<\/h2>\n
Officials sidestep questions about consequences<\/h2>\n
White House addresses questions about Rubio, Gabbard<\/h2>\n