Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard indicated that Russia aimed to create disorder during the 2016 election and had expected a victory for Hillary Clinton, as stated in an interview published on Sunday by the New York Post.
Gabbard conveyed her insights during a discussion with the Post’s Miranda Devine on the “Pod Force One” podcast, which is scheduled for release on Wednesday.
“As we have discovered in subsequent documents reviewed throughout that campaign, Russia believed that Hillary Clinton would emerge victorious in the election,” Gabbard remarked. “They considered it inevitable.”
In 2016, Russia faced allegations of hacking the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) emails, and a memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released in July stated, “supporting evidence [indicates] the Russian government directed hacking of the DNC and the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee].”
During the interview, Gabbard raised the question of why the Kremlin would have delayed the release of damaging information about Hillary Clinton until after the election if their main objective was to ensure Donald Trump’s election.
She referenced a recently published report from the 2020 House Intelligence Committee, which disclosed that Russia might have had intelligence suggesting Clinton was using “heavy tranquilizers” to manage “intensified psycho-emotional problems, including uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness.”
Gabbard then openly questioned the absence of a public release of that report.
“If Russia intended to assist Trump in getting elected, as the fabricated January 2017 intelligence community assessment asserts with high confidence, according to Brennan and Clapper, then Putin would have disclosed the most damaging information and emails to support President Trump,” Gabbard stated to Devine.
Concerning the House report, Gabbard mentioned that the information “was deliberately withheld and not released because they presumed that Hillary Clinton would win that election, and their strategy [was to] wait until perhaps days or weeks before her inauguration to unveil these documents.”
Gabbard also discussed further details revealed through documents made public by her office in July. “I was genuinely surprised that all of these documents were still available, to be honest,” Gabbard stated to the New York Post.
During a White House press briefing in July, Gabbard announced that she had submitted referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ) based on findings from the Office of the ODNI.
“What we have now learned from President Obama was essentially a covert operation aimed at undermining the will of the American populace, fabricating a narrative that would question the legitimacy of President Trump’s election and the entirety of his administration, culminating in what was effectively a prolonged coup,” Gabbard informed The Post.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has initiated a grand jury investigation into allegations of a criminal conspiracy related to the ‘Russiagate’ inquiry following Gabbard’s referrals.
Fox News was the first outlet to report on Bondi’s action.
“Fox News can confirm that Attorney General Pam Bondi has today signed an order instructing an unnamed U.S. federal prosecutor to present evidence to a grand jury concerning an alleged conspiracy to connect then 2016 candidate Donald Trump with the nation of Russia,” network correspondent David Spunt informed host Will Cain on Monday.
“Earlier today, Fox News reviewed the one-page order signed by the Attorney General just hours ago. A source familiar with the investigation has also confirmed this. Although a DoJ spokesperson refrained from commenting on this investigation report, Fox has been informed that Attorney General Bondi is taking the referrals from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard ‘very seriously,'” Spunt remarked.
“The spokesperson indicated that Bondi perceives ‘clear cause for deep concern’ and recognizes the necessity for subsequent actions. This development, Will, occurs merely a few weeks after the Director of National Intelligence — as you can see her right there — Tulsi Gabbard submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department regarding what she claims substantiates a conspiracy to undermine…