DNI Gabbard: Docs 'directly point to President Obama leading manufacturing' of Russia election hoax

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Wednesday that documents her office released "directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing" of the Russia election interference hoax.

Gabbard made the comments during the White House press briefing after she declassified and released the House Intelligence Committee report that alleges that the Obama-era intelligence assessment on Russian election meddling used the discredited Steele Dossier to underpin its conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin aspired to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election.

"There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard said on Wednesday, Fox News reported. "They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true it wasn't."

"All come back to and confirm the same report: There was a gross politicization and manipulation of intelligence by the Obama administration intended to delegitimize President Trump even before he was inaugurated, ultimately usurping the will of the American people," she added. 

Gabbard also said that the newly-released documents have been shared with both the Department of Justice and the FBI for any possible criminal implications.

"We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI, to investigate the criminal implications of this for the evidence," Gabbard said. "Correct. 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."