Gabbard claims Obama officials ‘manufactured intelligence’ of 2016 Russian election interference

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5409448-gabbard-alleges-obama-officials-manipulated-intelligence/

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a report Friday alleging Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The very intelligence agencies that Gabbard now oversees have long concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election — an assessment that was backed by other outside entities.

That includes a three-year bipartisan Senate investigation that concluded in a more than 1,300 page report that Russia was aggressive in seeking to interfere with the election on Trump’s behalf, including by launching a massive social media campaign.

Gabbard’s memo, as well as another 114 pages of related documents, primarily rests on claims there was no indication of a Russian effort to directly manipulate the actual vote count.

However, that is not at odds with the conclusion of the intelligence community or the Senate report, which determined there was “no evidence that any votes were changed or that any voting machines were manipulated.” The Obama administration said it had seen no evidence that hackers tampered with the results.

“It’s a day that ends with ‘y’ and Donald Trump desperately wants to change the subject, so Director Gabbard is rehashing decade-old false claims about the Obama Administration. Few episodes in our nation’s history have been investigated as thoroughly as the Intelligence Community’s warning in 2016 that Russia was interfering in the election,” House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said in a statement.