Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Wednesday that former US President Barack Obama was directly responsible for initiating and directing the intelligence community assessment that fueled claims of Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Gabbard stated, "The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment [from January 2017]. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact."

"The President believes that this matter needs to be thoroughly investigated, and anyone convicted of a crime should be held accountable in this country," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

The remarks followed the release of more than 100 pages of declassified documents, which, according to Gabbard, expose internal coordination among senior Obama-era officials to selectively construct a narrative around Russian meddling. She claimed intelligence agencies were pressured to shift their assessments, with particular reliance on the now-discredited Steele dossier, to frame the Trump campaign as complicit in foreign interference.

Election reckoning

President Donald Trump, responding Tuesday to Gabbard's announcement, accused the former president and his administration of executing what he described as a long-running plot to delegitimize his presidency and block his re-election. "They [the Office of the Director of National Intelligence] caught [former] President Obama, absolutely cold, what they [Obama administration officials] did to this country starting in 2016, but going all the way up to the 2020 election," Trump said. "They tried to rig the election, and they got caught, and there should be very severe consequences for that."

Trump has since urged the Department of Justice to prosecute Obama, arguing that such action is necessary to preserve democratic integrity. He referred to the episode as a historic injustice, framing it as a deliberate subversion of the democratic process.

The response from Obama's camp has been swift and categorical. Spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush dismissed the accusations as "bizarre," "ridiculous," and "a weak attempt at distraction." He added, "Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes."

Despite bipartisan investigations, including the Mueller Report and the Senate Intelligence Committee's findings, supporting the premise of Russian interference, Gabbard's revelations have reignited partisan divisions. Trump and his allies view the documents as proof of what they've long called the "crime of the century," while critics argue the renewed focus is an attempt to erase the original findings and pursue political retribution.

Read more: Obama officials may face charges over Russia probe: Gabbard

Russia, for its part, has repeatedly denied any involvement in the US election. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the accusations as "absolutely unfounded," and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said no credible evidence has ever been presented.

With Trump now in his second term and allies positioned across key intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the administration appears determined to pursue legal action against former officials tied to what it views as a politically engineered intelligence operation. Gabbard, meanwhile, has promised more disclosures in the days ahead.