By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press
Tulsi Gabbard, the Trump administration’s director of national intelligence, is touting from the White House podium the release of a House report that she claims helps undercut the reality of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Gabbard made a surprise appearance just hours after she made public a declassified report from House Republicans that was produced during the first presidential administration.
The report does not dispute the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election, but alleges tradecraft failings in how intelligence officials reached the conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin intended to have Trump win.
The release of the report, as Trump is facing backlash from elements of his base over the handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to rewrite the history of Russian election interference.
Gabbard lashed out during lengthy remarks at specific members of the Obama administration.
Gabbard calls Obama’s response a ‘disservice’
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said former President Barack Obama did a “disservice to the American people” when his office attacked the government’s rehashed grievances over the Russia investigation that overshadowed President Donald Trump’s first term.
Obama’s post-presidential office issued a rare statement on Tuesday, condemning the Trump administration’s allegations as a “ridiculous and “a weak attempt at distraction.”
Asked about it at a Wednesday press briefing, Gabbard said Obama and others from his administration are “trying to deflect away from their culpability in what is a historic scandal.”
Calls for retribution in Russia investigation run into reality of Supreme Court immunity ruling
As President Donald Trump urges scrutiny of fellow commander-in-chief Barack Obama, it’s worth remembering a simple fact: Former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts they take in office.
That’s thanks to a Supreme Court opinion issued last year that shielded Trump in a case charging him with conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The topic has resurfaced thanks to efforts by the Trump administration to rewrite the history of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump has suggested that investigators should look into Obama and other senior officials, though none of them have been accused of any wrongdoing and the Supreme Court ruling in any event would foreclose the possibility of a prosecution of Obama.
White House doesn’t make it clear what kind of ‘accountability’ Trump wants of Obama
Trump has repeated baseless claims that Obama engaged in treason and Leavitt said the president wants his predecessor to be held accountable. But she had no details, when pressed, about how Trump wants to see Obama held accountable when the Supreme Court ruled last year in a case involving Trump that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts that fall within their constitutional authority.
Leavitt said that the White House would let the Justice Department decide what to do.
“It’s in the Department of Justice’s hands and we trust them to move the ball forward,” she said.