The Department of Justice on Wednesday formed a “strike force” to assess the declassified evidence that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released regarding the Obama administration‘s role in Russian election interference claims during the 2016 presidential election.
The newly announced strike force will also determine the next legal steps that might stem from the disclosed information.
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“The Department of Justice is proud to work with my friend Director Gabbard and we are grateful for her partnership in delivering accountability for the American people,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will investigate these troubling disclosures fully and leave no stone unturned to deliver justice.”
The department noted it is taking the “alleged weaponization of the intelligence community with the utmost seriousness.”
The group’s formation comes less than a week after Gabbard’s office published new evidence suggesting former President Barack Obama undermined President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. Obama’s White House claimed at the time that Russia meddled with the election results, despite the intelligence community’s prior assessments indicating no foreign interference in the months leading up to the election.
The Democratic administration quickly reversed course after the election in December 2016, when former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s office ordered the creation of a new assessment that details the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.” Obama officials then leaked false statements to the press alleging Russia attempted to interfere in the election’s outcome, which saw Trump defeat former first lady Hillary Clinton.
The new intelligence assessment was published on Jan. 6, 2017, shortly before Trump entered office for the first time.
Obama has disputed Gabbard’s findings, claiming his administration’s assessment of alleged Russian election interference was accurate and unbiased. The Trump administration thinks otherwise.
Earlier Wednesday, Gabbard announced she referred Obama and several of his top officials to the DOJ for criminal prosecution. The intelligence chief did not recommend any specific charges, including treason, but she did express confidence in the evidence.
“There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Barack Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew that was false,” Gabbard told reporters during Wednesday’s White House press briefing. “The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.”
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The strike force will be responsible for overseeing the criminal investigation into the evidence.
The team consists of investigators and prosecutors who focus on “the worst offenders engaged in fraudulent activities, including, chiefly, healthcare fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, money laundering offenses, false statements offenses,” and more, the DOJ told Fox News.