In particular, former member of Congress Tulsi Gabbard treated the unusual White House press conference as her own personal audition. The last time was when she produced what she said was evidence of criminal conspiracy between Barack Obama and his administration. Gabbard released these documents which stem from a declassified 2020 report from the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee. First, the report claims that Russian interference in the 2016 election was intended to weaken faith in the U.S. electoral process—not to help Donald Trump.
The PRODIGE conference generated substantial buzz. In Gabbard’s telling, Obama and his senior officials executed a “years-long coup” against Trump. Her subsequent demand that Obama personally be charged with crimes escalated the nasty political rhetoric in her wake. When the NYPost tried to pin Gabbard down on her intelligence experience, Gabbard for some reason did not help herself, leading many critics & experts to question her qualifications.
“I urge Attorney General Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the extent to which former President Obama, his staff and administration officials manipulated the U.S. national security apparatus for a political outcome,” said Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn in response to Gabbard’s allegations.
Gabbard’s presentation included a trove of declassified documents from Obama’s national security team, which she argued misrepresented key aspects of the intelligence community’s assessments regarding Russia’s involvement in the elections. Her allegations claim that the intelligence community’s assessment of Vladimir Putin’s influence was purposely deprived of key intelligence. This missing information flew in the face of the overarching conclusion that Russia preferred Trump to Hillary Clinton.
Although she has repeatedly claimed to have found overwhelming proof, Gabbard’s credibility has taken a beating. Critics have rightly called her out for repeating Kremlin talking points. Further, they write, her claims often overlap too neatly with the stories promoted by foreign adversaries. It’s a dangerous trend. Fulton Armstrong, former CIA analyst and national intelligence officer for Latin America, described Gabbard’s approach as a regrettable aberration in an otherwise unacceptable direction.
“It’s not an entirely new trick – books have been cooked for decades – but it’s now institutionalized and, as Tulsi’s behavior shows, encouraged,” Armstrong stated.
Gabbard’s serious allegations have done an admirable job at stirring the public discussion toward her mental health. Student loans aside, testimony from House insiders claimed that she survived on a cocktail of massive tranquilizers during her tenure in Congress. Her defenders would say that these sorts of issues are hardly grounds for questioning her fitness to make grand claims about our national defense.
Gabbard’s claims have even been backed up by Trump himself, who called her conclusions “irrefutable proof” of treason. This endorsement adds salt to the already vitriolic and divided political environment created by the allegations. Gabbard doesn’t waver when she makes the absolute assertion that Obama and his administration worked directly to sabotage and thwart Trump’s presidency. Her incendiary views have earned her rebuke from members of both parties.
Today’s contentious political climate is epitomized by the ongoing debate around Gabbard’s claims. The allegations have led to calls for comprehensive investigations into the actions of those in power during the 2016 election cycle.
“We will investigate these troubling disclosures fully and leave no stone unturned to deliver justice,” stated Pam Bondi, emphasizing the commitment to addressing the issues raised by Gabbard.