July 24, 2025 10:48 AM UTC

Tulsi Gabbard Just Making Epstein Coverup Worse

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• by: Colorado Pols

As NBC News reports, in addition to Donald Trump ordering the MAGA faithful to forget that a man named Jeffrey Epstein ever existed, the administration has opened a new diversionary front in their increasingly desperate attempts to change the subject–wild-eyed allegations of “treason” from Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, former quasi-Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, against former President Barack Obama that absolutely no one except those hoping to be distracted is taking seriously:

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard leveled allegations against former President Barack Obama yesterday, claiming there is “irrefutable evidence” that he and his national security team manufactured a “false” intelligence analysis to show Russia helped Donald Trump win the 2016 election.

Gabbard also announced at the White House briefing that she has declassified a five-year-old report by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee about the 2016 election, which took issue with findings that Russian President Vladimir Putin “aspired” to help Trump win. The report conflicts with a bipartisan Senate report from the same year that endorsed an assessment by intelligence agencies that Russia spread disinformation online and undermined Hillary Clinton’s candidacy to bolster Trump’s prospects. That report was signed off by every member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, including Trump’s current Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

It’s the first time a U.S. spy chief has leveled allegations against a former president or administration, and Democrats have dismissed the move as an attempt to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Meanwhile, Obama and former officials in his administration have called Gabbard’s allegations baseless…

It’s not just Obama calling these warmed-over rehashed allegations baseless. FactCheck.org agrees:

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claims to have uncovered “overwhelming evidence” that former President Barack Obama and others in his administration manipulated intelligence to “lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.” But the foundation for her case is misleading.

Gabbard’s claim relies heavily on an alleged contradiction between a Jan. 6, 2017, intelligence assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an “influence campaign” in an attempt to help elect Donald Trump and earlier intelligence assessments that concluded Russia did not successfully use cyberattacks on election infrastructure in the 2016 election. But those two assessments are not in contradiction. [Pols emphasis]

“No one ever claimed Russia altered votes, but everyone claims that Russia tried to interfere on Trump’s behalf,” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a video message posted on X on July 21. That interference was “well documented” and “well vetted” not only by the Intelligence Community but also by a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee and as part of then special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s report, he said.

It’s time for some REAL accountability for Barack Hussein Obama and his collaborators.

We’ve played nice for far too long! https://t.co/Ak61OrDns7

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) July 22, 2025

As Axios’ Sareen Habeshian reports, if Gabbard is right, it’s not just Obama who committed “treason” against Trump, but also Trump’s own Secretary of State Marco Rubio:

Nearly a decade after he won, President Trump remains fixated on disproving the thoroughly investigated and widely held conclusion that Russia interfered to aid his campaign.

Back in 2020, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee — including now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio — concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win but did not hack election infrastructure to manipulate cast ballots. [Pols emphasis]

Colorado’s Rep. Lauren Boebert, who clammed up about Epstein a week ago just as Trump gave Boebert a suspiciously-timed glowing gratuitous endorsement, jumped on Gabbard’s allegations to call for something she calls “real accountability” for President Obama, who in case you didn’t know has a middle name only ever invoked for scare value. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the receipt of Gabbard’s criminal referral with high dudgeon, but it’s unknown what if anything is going to happen next.

Our expectation is, absolutely nothing. This is an extremely thin rehash of known facts that simply does not support the over-the-top allegations made by Gabbard, whose credibility issues are known and longstanding. It appears to have been released for the sole purpose of giving Republicans something else to talk about on their way to an early August recess after dodging a vote on releasing the Epstein files. We can’t put anything past Trump’s Justice Department, including the possibility of further subsidizing these baseless allegations.

But in overwhelming numbers based on the polls, the American public sees right through this cheap diversion.