Posted on 07/22/25
| News Source: FOX News
President Donald Trump claimed that former President Barack Obama was the "ringleader" of Russiagate, calling for him to be criminally investigated amid new claims that members of his administration allegedly "manufactured" intelligence that prompted the Trump–Russia collusion narrative.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified documents revealing "overwhelming evidence" that claimed that after Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team allegedly laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.Gabbard said the documents revealed that Obama administration officials "manufactured and politicized intelligence" to allegedly create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise.
The new documents name Obama, top officials on his National Security Council, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others.
Gabbard, on Monday, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to those findings. Department of Justice officials did not share further details on whom the criminal referral was for.
As for Gabbard’s criminal referral, Trump was asked which specific figures should be under criminal investigation, to which he replied: "President Obama. He started it."
"And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there in the room right here. This is the room," Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with the president of the Philippines. "It was President Obama. It was lots of people all over the place."
None of the former Obama-era officials have responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.