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Ramsey Touchberry


NextImg:Graham, Cornyn call for Obama special counsel over Russiagate claims

A pair of leading Senate Republicans on Thursday called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate new claims by the Trump administration that former President Barack Obama sought to undermine President Donald Trump’s presidency with manufactured intelligence.

The request from Judiciary Committee members Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) came in the wake of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassifying documents she says are evidence of efforts by former Obama officials to hurt Trump with Russian collusion claims.

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“For the good of the country, we urge Attorney General Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the extent to which former President Obama, his staff, and administration officials manipulated the U.S. national security apparatus for a political outcome,” the GOP duo said in a joint statement.

They said Gabbard’s new information has made it “more evident that the entire Russia collusion hoax was created by the Obama administration to subvert the will of the American people.”

An Obama spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts in office.

Gabbard has claimed Obama officials “manufactured” evidence of 2016 Russian election interference and accused them of leading a “treasonous conspiracy.” Gabbard revealed Wednesday she’d referred Obama and former senior aides to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.

In a rare statement, Patrick Rodenbush, an Obama spokesman, said the former president does not “normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response.” He noted that a 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded the Russians sought to influence the election and change vote tallies but were unsuccessful in altering them, as several other intelligence community reports have concluded.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), left, talks with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) outside the chamber during a test vote to begin debate on a border security bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republicans controlled the chamber then, and now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio was then-chairman of the Intel panel.

“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit [a response]. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” Rodenbush said. “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.”

Cornyn, a member of the Intel panel, has defended his committee’s past findings to the Washington Examiner but added Thursday that there’s now “a lot of confusion” that warrants further investigation.

“There’s no question the Russians tried to do what the Russians always tried to do, but there’s no evidence of collusion,” Cornyn said. “There is evidence that members of the Obama administration essentially started a witch hunt against President Trump, which fell under the heading of the Russia hoax investigation. And there was no evidence of that, but it just consumed a couple of years of his presidency and attention to the American people when he should have been allowed to do his job.”

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Gabbard has not directly rebutted the findings by the Senate or other government entities on interference but has suggested they were based on fake Obama-era intelligence.

Democrats claim that the assertions against Obama are a distraction from conservative blowback against Trump for the DOJ not releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, in which he is reportedly mentioned as a former associate of the late child sex offender.