By Sylvia Demarest, Substack, 7/19/25
Sylvia Demarest is a retired trial lawyer.
On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents revealing “overwhelming evidence” demonstrating how, before and after President Donald Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Barack Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the years-long Trump–Russia collusion probe. In a series of posts on X, DNI head Tulsi Gabbard explains the investigation and the declassification of 114 pages of previously top-secret documents revealing that Russiagate was essentially an intelligence created hoax. Gabbard said, “There was a treasonous conspiracy at the highest levels of government”.
Director Gabbard’s release of these documents is related to an intelligence community operation that took place during and after the 2016 presidential election. This operation was designed to accuse Donald Trump of being a Russian agent and created the Trump-Russia hysteria that occupied the country’s attention for years. The operation was spread by anonymous intelligence community leaks to the corporate media which saturated the the country with what has now been revealed to have been completely “fake news”. We have yet to hear from this media, which includes the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, NBC, and CNN. The coverage of this fake story by this media, resulted in the media, and their reporters, being awarded Pulitzer Prizes.
Here’s one example from the DNI disclosures. On December 8, 2016, intelligence officials were prepared to release the President’s Daily Briefing which concluded that “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure”:
This “did not impact” memo was never issued due to the intervention of James Clapper and what was contained in these IC memos was the exact opposite of what the Obama White House would claim a month later.
On December 9th Obama’s National Security Principals Committee met and after this meeting each team member received an email tasking them with creating a new “assessment per the President’s request.” This is when the anonymous leaks to the media began, leaks now labeled by the DNI as “blatantly false”. The leaks were about a non-existent “secret assessment” that Russia had intervened to influence “the outcome of the election”. The leaks continued until Brennan could organize and release a Intelligence Community Assessment. These actions put in motion a series of developments that led to the publication of the Steele Dossier and a barrage of media stories linking Trump to Russia, and to an unprecedented scandal that essentially accused Trump of being a traitor.
The materials were bolstered by a whistleblower from then DNI head James Clapper’s office. The documents implicate a wide range of White House officials including President Obama himself, all designed to create a false narrative that Russia had meddled in the election to help Donald Trump.
The release was preceded by an “urgent meeting” of Trump’s Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board, at a secure facility which included officials from the Department of Justice.
The Russiagate hoax seriously impaired US, Russia relations, which appears to have been the ultimate objective.
Here’s Russia Today: “Former President Barack Obama’s administration deliberately manipulated intelligence to frame Russia for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, according to newly declassified documents released on Friday by America’s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard unveiled more than 100 pages of emails, memos, and internal communications, which she described as “overwhelming evidence” of a coordinated effort by senior Obama-era officials to politicize intelligence and launch the multi-year Trump–Russia collusion investigation. She dubbed it “a treasonous conspiracy to subvert the will of the American people.” The scandal severely damaged relations between Moscow and Washington, leading to sanctions, asset seizures, and a breakdown in normal diplomacy.”
Catherine Herridge, who had covered the story stated the following: “The newly declassified records are additional, compelling evidence that the 2016 Russia Collision narrative was not rooted in credible intelligence reporting but manufactured to fit a preferred political narrative.”
The significance of this action by DNI cannot be overstated.
This is the first time an intelligence domestic operation has been exposed by its own leadership. It also exposed the abuse of the “classified top secret” label to hide illegal, potentially treasonous activities, which could and should lead to serious reforms in classification procedures. The release of such highly classified documents to the public is also unprecedented and avoids claims that there is “no supporting evidence”.
The criminal referral of former president Barack Obama would have never happened had the Biden DOJ not spent 4 years prosecuting Donald Trump. The Supreme Court case resulting from one of the prosecutions, lays out the circumstances under which a former president can be criminally prosecuted. The Supreme Court said there was “no immunity” for “illegal acts”. The acts revealed by DNI Gabbard, are alleged to be part of a domestic counterinsurgency designed to remove or impair a duly elected president from carrying out his duties under the US Constitution. They were also designed to worsen relations with a foreign country and promote a path to war. If proven, this would constitute an illegal act.
Here is what DNI head Tulsi Gabbard released on Friday:
“Americans will finally learn the truth about how in 2016, intelligence was politicized and weaponized by the most powerful people in the Obama Administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President @realDonaldTrump, subverting the will of the American people and undermining or democratic republic. Here’s how:”
For months preceding the 2016 election, the Intelligence Community shared a consensus view: Russia lacked the intent and capability to hack U.S. elections.
But weeks after President Trump’s historic 2016 victory defeating Hillary Clinton, everything changed.
On Dec 8, 2016, IC officials prepared an assessment for the President’s Daily Brief, finding that Russia “did not impact recent U.S. election results” by conducting cyber attacks on infrastructure.
Before it could reach the President, it was abruptly pulled “based on new guidance.” This key intelligence assessment was never published.
The next day, top national security officials including FBI Dir James Comey, CIA Dir John Brennan and DNI James Clapper gathered at the Obama White House to discuss Russia. Obama directed the IC to create a new intelligence assessment that detailed Russian election meddling, even though it would contradict multiple intelligence assessments released over the previous several months.
Obama officials immediately leaned on their allies in the media to advance their falsehoods. Anonymous IC sources leaked classified information to the Washington Post and others that Russia had intervened to hack the election in Trump’s favor.
On January 6, 2017, just days before President Trump took office, DNI Clapper unveiled the Obama-directed politicized assessment, a gross weaponization of intelligence that laid the groundwork for a years-long coup intended to subvert President Trump’s entire presidency.
According to whistleblower emails shared with us today, we know Clapper and Brennan used the baseless discredited Steele Dossier as a source to push this false narrative in the intelligence assessment.
These documents detail a treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate.
This betrayal concerns every American. The integrity of our democratic republic demands that every person involved be investigated and brought to justice to prevent this from ever happening again.
I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.
Conclusion:
In all there were 17 different investigations which Wired Magazine outlined in an article in 2018. These investigations included a Special Prosecutor, two impeachments, and lawsuits against Russian companies that never went anywhere. These investigations resulted in criminal indictments of several people who worked in the Trump campaign. As a result of these investigations, many people were bankrupted and their families threatened, forcing them to plead to charges; others were tried and convicted, and at least 2 were imprisoned. I followed the entire saga at the time, put together a timeline, read Indictments, court transcripts, and depositions. I concluded it was an anti-Russia intelligence operation designed demonize Russia and to keep President Trump from trying to improve US, Russia relations i.e. that it was a likely intelligence operation bordering on treason. Now DNI has reached the same conclusion.
I have not had the opportunity to review all the documents that were released. There are several Substack’s that are following this issue, including Matt Taibbi’s Racket News, which I highly recommend.