The Justice Department is launching a grand jury investigation into what the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, alleges is a conspiracy by former President Obama and members of his national security team to fabricate an intelligence narrative suggesting that Russia actively aided President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, believes there is “clear cause for deep concern” to bring a case, based on a criminal referral made by Ms. Gabbard, to a grand jury, according to Fox News, which first reported the news of the grand jury investigation on Monday evening.
However, which former officials were expected to be named, or what the kinds of charges they are likely to be facing, wasn’t immediately clear on Monday night.
In a White House press conference last week, Ms. Gabbard, citing recently declassified files, claimed there was “irrefutable evidence” showing that the Obama administration “directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false.”
“In doing so, they conspired to subvert the will of the American people who elected Donald Trump in that election in November of 2016,” Ms. Gabbard said during the press conference.
No defendants have yet to be named, although the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, has suggested in interviews with Fox News that former FBI director James Comey, 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and former CIA director John Brennan may be indicted as part of the investigation.
Mr. Trump himself has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that Mr. Obama himself was directly implicated and has engaged in treasonous conduct.
Former special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe resulted in only three criminal charges, one of which, against a former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, resulted in a guilty plea (he was sentenced to probation). But his report was harshly critical of the FBI’s Russia investigation, claiming there was a “lack of analytical rigor” and that the FBI and DOJ “failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law.”
The grand jury may be restricted by who they can criminally charge due statutes of limitations.
News of the probe follows in the wake of Ms. Bondi’s Justice Department transfer of the convicted Jeffrey Epstein associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, to a minimum security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas just a week after meeting with her deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche.
Last month, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Obama of “treason.”
“He started it, and Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there,” Mr. Trump said.
“These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” an Obama spokesman said in response.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
