• What Happened: DNI Gabbard released declassified documents claiming the Obama administration manufactured the Russia collusion narrative and referred everything to DOJ for criminal investigation.
  • Why It Matters: AG Bondi has convened a grand jury. An IC whistleblower spent six years trying to expose this before Gabbard's office finally acted.
  • Bottom Line: The documents are public. The grand jury is running. The reckoning may finally be coming.

For years, the Russia collusion narrative shaped American politics, launched federal investigations, triggered two impeachments, and cast a shadow over Donald Trump's entire first presidency. Now Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says she has the documents that show how it was built, who built it, and why.

In July 2025, Gabbard released a series of declassified documents at the White House briefing room, calling it "the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history." The documents, posted directly to DNI.gov, included a previously classified 2020 House Intelligence Committee Republican staff report and a series of intelligence communications that Gabbard says tell a damning story.

"There is irrefutable evidence detailing how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard said. "The documents we released show how they did it: manufacturing findings from shoddy sources, suppressing evidence that disproved their false claims, disobeying IC tradecraft standards, and withholding the truth from the American people."

According to the timeline Gabbard presented, in the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the Intelligence Community consistently assessed that Russia was "probably not trying to influence the election by using cyber means." On December 7, 2016, after Trump had won, talking points prepared for then-DNI James Clapper stated "Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US presidential election outcome."

Two days later, on December 9, Obama's White House gathered top National Security Council principals including Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and Secretary of State John Kerry. Gabbard says it was at this meeting that the direction to produce a different assessment was given. The January 6, 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, released just weeks before Trump's inauguration, concluded Putin had ordered an influence campaign to help Trump win, a direct reversal of the IC's prior position according to Gabbard's framing.

Gabbard also released documents from an IC whistleblower who spent six years trying to expose what they described as the manufactured assessment, reporting concerns to more than a dozen government offices including the IC Inspector General, Special Counsel Durham, and other whistleblower channels before Gabbard's office finally acted.

"The evidence directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment," Gabbard said, announcing all documents had been referred to DOJ for criminal investigation.

Attorney General Pam Bondi moved quickly, directing prosecutors to convene a grand jury investigation into the Obama administration's handling of the Russia intelligence review. A strike force was assembled to assess the evidence and determine potential next legal steps.

Obama and former officials in his administration have flatly denied the accusations, calling them baseless. A bipartisan Senate intelligence report in 2020 endorsed the IC's conclusion that Russia sought to help Trump win the election. Special Counsel Durham, appointed by Trump himself, found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy by the Obama administration. Critics of Gabbard's release, including multiple intelligence analysts, say the documents have been selectively presented and mischaracterize what the underlying intelligence actually showed.

No charges have been filed. The grand jury investigation is ongoing. The documents are public at DNI.gov.

Every American should read them and decide for themselves whether what happened in the final weeks of the Obama administration was legitimate intelligence work or something far more dangerous.