The Trump administration continues to turn up the heat on former President Obama and his administration over new evidence showing intelligence was manufactured to push the false Trump-Russia collusion narrative following Trump's election in 2016. Over the weekend, new whistleblowers came forward to support the evidence released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Gabbard has now referred the evidence to the Department of Justice for possible action.
Gabbard, in her initial release of the newly unclassified documents last week, called this an "egregious abuse of power" and a "treasonous conspiracy," setting the stage for possible criminal prosecution. "You need to first understand how unprecedented this is," says Hans Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "The DNI never speaks publicly about internal investigations, they don't release intelligence assessments...so this tells you how serious the misconduct was, that this is not only being released publicly but is being sent to the Justice Department for criminal investigation."
As for what that criminal investigation will find, this could land some top former Obama officials---maybe even Obama himself---in hot water. "Would (Obama) be criminally prosecuted? I doubt that would happen," says Von Spakovsky. "But all of the individuals who were carrying this out could be, from (former FBI Director) James Comey, to (former CIA Director) John Brennan, to (former Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper."
Von Spakovsky adds that if they aren't prosecuted for conspiracy to deprive Trump of his rights, they could at the very least face charges for lying to Congress. "It's still possible the statute of limitations may not have run out when it comes to the sworn testimony that Brennan, Comey and others gave to Congress in which they denied that any of this had happened," he tells KTRH. "That sets them up for possible perjury prosecutions."
"And it's about time," he continues. "Because the most dangerous thing possible is when the powers of our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement agencies are used for political purposes."
Photo: AFP