The Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated a grand jury investigation into alleged conspiracy ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia, following a criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her staff to act on the referral, which claims intelligence community actors suppressed information about Russia’s alleged lack of impact on the 2016 election.
The referral includes declassified material revealing Obama administration’s alleged manipulation of narratives surrounding Russian interference. The memorandum, titled ‘Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing ‘Russian and criminal actors did not impact’ the 2016 presidential election via cyber-attacks on infrastructure,’ was submitted to the DOJ in July, prompting an investigation. No charges have been filed yet, but the probe could lead to potential indictments.
Former President Barack Obama and his intelligence officials allegedly promoted a ‘contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn’t,’ Gabbard said during a press briefing of the intelligence. The declassified material includes a meeting record revealing how Obama allegedly requested his deputies prepare an intelligence assessment in December 2016, after Trump had won the election, that detailed the ‘tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.’
That intelligence assessment stressed that Russia’s actions did not affect the outcome of the election but rather were intended to sow distrust in the democratic process. Gabbard has alleged that Obama and his national security officials laid the ‘groundwork’ for a narrative that then-candidate Trump and his campaign colluded to help him win the 2016 election. An FBI investigation and two special counsel investigations loomed over much of Trump’s first administration.
It is unclear whom the grand jury is expected to target and what charges could be in play given the statutes of limitations for much of the activity from nearly a decade ago have lapsed. Former Obama intelligence officials, including John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey, have drawn scrutiny from Trump officials for their alleged involvement in developing intelligence that undermined Trump’s 2016 victory.